


Blooming Good And Evil

by Jij



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Demon!Changbin, Demons, M/M, Minor Character Death, Witchcraft, but there will be some lighthearted fluff as well, demon!Hyunjin, it's gonna be intense, jeongin is a cat familiar, mild swearing, wizard!minho - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2020-11-01 23:26:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20543606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jij/pseuds/Jij
Summary: Literature student Jisung had been lured into a magic circle by a handsome wizard and a fluffy cat. What he at first expected to be more like a weird book club, turned out to be a group of actual mystic beings. On the journey of learning about a new and mysterious world, he finds love and his true self. But every gain demands loss and greed comes back as red blood.





	1. I  -  The sparkling city, the bloody stench

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So, we are starting off with a lighthearted introductory chapter. There's not much magic in this one, but we're going all in in the second chapter :D While I work on this story, I'll do some research and I will give you background information in the notes. Most things will be explained to you through jisung and felix eventually, but I still give you some mythology "facts" :) I hope you will enjoy it!   
Comments and Kudos are appreciated as always <3   
Also, this was inspired by Bang Yongguk's song "Codex Gigas", so check it out!

“Why is this so boring? I thought university courses were supposed to be interesting?” Jisung complained with a loud groan.

“Calm down, Jisung. It’s only your first semester. Of course, the introduction courses are boring as hell,” Felix tried to ease his roommate.

“I’m sure hell is more exciting,” Jisung said shutting his book.

“Huh, sure. If that’s what you’re into,” Felix teased with a playful grin.

Jisung's eyes widened comically as he tried to assess, if his best friend had meant it like he was suspecting he had. He finally concluded that Felix had interpreted “exciting” in a way that Jisung deemed not safe for his pure and innocent self. So, in his defense, Jisung threw a pillow at his roommate.

“I’m serious though. I think I need a change of scenery. I might just take a walk and explore the city a little bit. Do you want to come with me?”

Felix contemplated for a few seconds, but answered defeatedly,” No, sorry. I got to finish this assignment today. Why is veterinary medicine so fucking demanding already?”

“I don’t know, man, but at least it’s not boring,” Jisung shrugged and left his best friend in his misery to find something of interest.

Jisung had only moved into the new city at the beginning of September, which made it about a month that he’s been living there now. Thus, there was still a lot to see and a lot of cool places to discover. Jisung studied literature at university and was currently in his first semester. However, unlike Felix, he had very basic courses up for now that didn’t require much effort or a lot of time. So, he found himself wandering the streets on a Thursday evening.

The cold concrete and the facades of the buildings were tinted a muddy blue, due to the settling dusk. Jisung wasn’t sure if he felt secure or caged in by the high walls surrounding him, but he didn’t mind the ambiguity. The street lanterns flickered to life and were now dimly illuminating his path. He scanned the sites of the street to find either a shop that hasn’t closed yet or a café that looked inviting to him. He really had no plan on where to go or what he was looking for.

After a while of looking at the same grey facades and glass windows, the monotone scenery was interrupted by the first story of a building being timbered. The wood was a dark maroon and going by the fading, slightly green varnish, it had been around for quite some time. The display windows were a bit dirty, but Jisung could see that there were a lot of shelves and boxes filled with old books lined up in the front. The ochre writing on the door said “Paradise Lost – occult bookstore”. That was certainly fitting to the whole vibe that Jisung got from this shop. He was intrigued. Underneath the writing there was a small flyer plastered against the inside of the glass window in the door. It had an intricate design with the color palette mostly consisting of different shades of emerald, burgundy and black. It read “Nebelung Magic Circle – searching for new members. If interested contact store owner for more information.” He was captivated. He had read a lot of fantasy books when he was younger. Although, recently he had caught up on classic literature, this occult bookstore had potential to become his new world to explore. The magic circle, he had never heard of before, seemed like a club for weirdos who watched to much Harry Potter, but who was he to judge? Most people would probably describe him as weird too. Don’t mock it until you try it.

Jisung entered the store and jumped a bit as he got promptly scared of a ringing above his head. He noticed quickly that they just had a doorbell to signal new customers. However, the employees didn’t seem to care too much about entering customers, because there was no one in sight, who might want to provide customer service. Even the cash register was empty. They probably didn’t make enough money to worry about theft. These people seemed to be bad at business, but then again, what did Jisung know about good business. He was here for the books anyways. And so, he started browsing the shelves for something interesting. There were a lot of books he had never seen in any bookstore before and that’s something, because he had been to a lot of bookstores in his life. He prided himself on his extensive knowledge of books. So, every time he found a book that was completely new to him, he let out noises of surprise or squealed a bit, if the topic seemed just that exciting. He was currently captivated by an old secondhand book on witchcraft and an antique paperback about mythology. He was so absorbed that he let out an embarrassing shriek when he felt something soft swivel around his ankle. In shock, he looked down at himself. There, at his feet was a grey cat looking up at him. Jisung's eyes widened; that was the most adorable little creature he had ever seen! He squatted down and let the cat sniff his hand. When it had approved of him, he started petting the cute feline. He already loved this bookstore; fascinating books and a cute cat. Amazing. 

“Can I help you?”

The sudden interruption startled Jisung, who was by now sitting on the floor scratching the cat in his lap behind its ear. He looked up to where the voice was coming from. So did the cat, apparently recognizing its owner. It promptly jumped out of Jisung's lap und hurried to the boy who was now standing only a few meters down the aisle from him. The boy looked about the same age and only a slight bit taller than him. He had dyed his short hair a dark indigo and was wearing a loose white shirt, tugged into some black trousers. However, the most eye-catching aspect of his look was the amount of jewelry he wore. On every finger he wore at least one ring with different gemstones of all shapes and forms, chains on his wrists and a pendant around his neck. Dangling from his ears were a pair of earrings, ellipse shaped sapphires that hung from small silver hoops. The small cat, by now, had found its way up onto his shoulder. In comparison, their features were somewhat alike. Well, as alike as a human and a cat could be. The boy’s eyes were sharp, his nose pointy and his lips were naturally pouty. Overall, his expression seemed a bit suspicious and very observant. He was undeniably pretty.

“What? Stop staring at me.”

Jisung blushed and closed his mouth that he must have opened while, indeed, staring at the other.

“Are these books that you wanted to buy?” the boy asked, while making a movement with his chin towards the two books that Jisung had set down next to him in order to cuddle with the cat.

Jisung splutters an affirmative as he took the books and got up on his feet.

“Okay, are you done looking? I can take them to the cash register already if you need some more time.”

Jisung, in his flustered state, answered,” Oh yes, I’m done looking. I’ll pay now,” even though he was actually not done looking. However, he was maybe just a tiny bit intimidated by that boy and didn’t want to keep browsing the shelves while the other could possibly stay in the room and witness an overly awkward and clumsy Jisung.

With a confident stride, the boy made his way behind the cash register and began checking the books. Jisung stood in front of it, still somewhat mesmerized by the other. As he was working, Jisung's gaze wandered to his hands, once again admiring the rings. They were all sparkly; some formed like shooting stars winding around his fingers, others were thick bands with intricate patterns that seemed to tell stories. A few were silver, but most were golden. All of them looked like antique treasures, fitting for the owner of an occult shop.

Focused on the boy’s accessories like that, Jisung, once again, got frightened as the cat suddenly decided to leap from the others shoulder into his arms. However, Jisung was definitely not suspecting such a sudden attack, and did not grab the cat right away, so it tried to get a grip by using its claws. Until Jisung reacted and supported the cat in his hold, it had already scratched short lines down from his collar bones. It didn’t rip his sweater, but now there were angry red lines peeking out of its neckline. It didn’t hurt that much, even though Jisung couldn’t help himself and let out a small “ouch” at the surprise.

Jisung looked at the cat that was now in his arms, which looked focused back at its owner. So, Jisung followed with his gaze and was a bit puzzled as it seemed like owner and cat had a conversation just by staring at each other. After a few intense seconds, the cat simply climbed up Jisung's and settled unfazed on his shoulder. The other boy just sighed at that. This cat seemed to really like sitting on shoulders, Jisung noted.

“Excuse my cat, it’s not usually that ill-mannered,” he glared at his cat and demanded,” leave the poor boy alone, Innie! You’re heavier than you think, so you better get back down.”

Jisung started laughing. His worries had vanished. How could you be intimidated by a guy that talks with his cat like that? His shoulders started shaking from his laughter and that must’ve been to the cat’s dismay, because it quickly jumped down from his shoulder and settled on the counter instead.

“It’s no problem. I think your cat is very adorable,” he chuckled,” My name is Jisung by the way, nice to meet you!”

Jisung extended his hand for the other to shake. However, he was promptly ignored as the other boy busied himself with the books.

“My name is Minho,” he said without looking up. Jisung retreated his hand, looking around the shop awkwardly.

“That would be 20 bucks then,” Minho said and looked at him expectantly.

Jisung's head snapped back to the front. Panic made its way on his face as he started to feel his pockets, hoping to find his wallet or at least a crumpled-up bill. He wasn’t successful.

Jisung's face was bright red by now and he stammered,” Uhm, I think I forgot my wallet. Can I come back later?” He tried to laugh it off, but he got the impression that it made him look even more stupid.

Minho rolled his eyes a bit and let out a breath,” I guess, you can. I will keep the books for you.”

“Thank you! I will see you then. I’m so sorry.” Jisung thoroughly embarrassed, turned around already and was about to leave as Minho called him back,” Wait! One moment, I have an offer.”

Jisung stopped in his tracks and turned around again. Confused he asked,” What kind of offer. Should I not just get my wallet?” He looked at Minho curiously.

“I let you have the books for free.”

“If…?”

“Uhm, well. You can take them, if you join our club.” Somehow, that made Minho look down on his hands, appearing slightly nervous.

“Huh?” Jisung stammered dumbly, not sure what the other meant.

“The Nebelung Magic Circle. You saw the note on the door, didn’t you?” Minho looked at him, waiting for a reaction.

“Oh, yeah. How does that make any sense though? Shouldn’t I rather pay extra If I get to participate in club activities?” Jisung laughed a bit, unsure of himself and the situation.

“Well, I doubt you could pay for that,” Minho retorted with an unimpressed grin.

“Yeah, that’s probably true.”

“Okay, look. We’ve been searching for members lately, because there’s some stuff we want to do where we need to have a few more people in order for it to work. But there are just not a lot of people who are willing to join. So, if you would help us out with that, you can use the bookshop like it’s your library; you get to read whatever you like and you can even find a spot to study or whatever.”

Minho proposed the idea to Jisung rather dejectedly. Obviously, his ego was bruised by the fact that no one was interested in his club. Well, not exactly no one, Jisung was interested in the club from the beginning and now that he had the prospect of using the book shop as a library, the deal was sealed. He tried to keep it cool, but internally he exploded from curiosity and excitement. Sure, some aspects of the whole club and its rooms were a bit sketchy, but he just took that as a given. It was an occult bookstore after all. Minho didn’t look like a murderer or a criminal to him, so if they proposed some weird rituals to him, he would probably make it out alive. Minho wasn’t even that much taller than him and his build wasn’t threatening either.

“Well, how many members do you have in your club then?” Jisung emphasized the “do”, because it really couldn’t be too many, if the other was just that desperate.

Minho seemed flustered and in a resolute tone, so as to keep some of his dignity, he answered,” Technically, we are six in total,” he took a breath,” but regularly active and present members are just my cat and I.” After the last part he exhaled in a manner that made him look just really pitiful. That sure weren’t a lot of club members. Could you even consider that a club?

“Aren’t you just asking for a date then?” Jisung asked genuinely, but after registering the situation you could see a teasing smile tuck at the corner of his lips.

Minho stared at Jisung in disbelief. His eyebrows furrowed, he seemed to be conflicted. Jisung suspected that Minho wanted to deny vehemently, but that might hurt Jisung' feelings and he really couldn’t scare off a potential new member. After a short while of being able to observe an impressive number of emotions on Minho's face, he answered rather unconventionally:

“No, that would be weird, because my cat is also my familiar. Innie doesn’t like to third-wheel,” he answered having regained his composure enough for a witty response. Or was that flirting just now? Jisung couldn’t understand the other’s intentions completely just yet. He decided to ignore the fact, that he only gave the presence of his cat as a reason against a date. Then again, he also called his cat a familiar, so maybe he was just a lunatic in general? In that moment, Jisung realized that he was in fact about to enter a magic circle, so he should probably take witchcraft a bit more seriously. At least in Minho's presence.

After he debated that statement pretty much completely in an inner monologue, there was just one more thing to clarify with Minho.

“Your cat is named Innie?”

Minho looked at him skeptically. Jisung could practically read his thoughts off his forehead; This idiot completely disregarded all the strange aspects of his statement and asked for his cat’s name.

Visibly deflating Minho just answered with a curt “yes” and then looked at Jisung expectantly.

“So, are you going to join or not?”

“Okay, I'll join you,” Jisung answered with a carefree smile.

Minho was baffled and after realizing the implication of his agreement, slowly made his way to the rooms in the back of his shop after telling Jisung,” Okay, I will show you the rooms then and explain to you how things work in here.”

Minho lead the other through a door behind the cash register and they entered a dingy hallway, sparsely illuminated by some old lamps encased in green glass, hanging on the side of the walls. The walls were covered in deep purple wallpaper with an ornament pattern. Hung up cards and sigils strewn all over made the appearance messy. Like the shop, the floor was made of dark, old wood.

“Alright, so besides the bookshop, we have three more rooms. A bathroom, a kitchen and, well, let’s call it a living room for now,” Minho explained and then, just to mess with the newbie, added,” even though ‘living’ might not be a very fitting word.” He grinned wickedly and gestured at the three doors that connected to the hallway.

That comment, however, flew right over Jisung's head. When Minho checked for the other's reaction, the boy seemed to be in awe of the wall decoration. He discovered that, even though the doors were devoid of any posters or cards, unlike the rest of the hallway, there were carvings in the wood of the doors and their frames. There weren’t as detailed as the sigils, but seemed to serve a purpose, nonetheless.

Minho opened the door to a room that must have been the kitchen but looked more like a greenhouse. Technically, it could have looked like an ordinary kitchen. It had all the furniture and equipment every other kitchen had. The wood used was a bit lighter than in the rest of the house and all items were in good condition. However, the counter was covered with colorful tin boxes, which, looking at the labels, held tea and dried herbs. On a shelve over the sink were multiple pots with more herbs and other plants. The windowsill and the table were covered in even more pots of different shapes and sizes bearing bushy greens and some flowers. Some potted plants that hung from the ceiling even had vines spread out through the room, giving the room a jungle-esque atmosphere. Grabbing his attention, Jisung curiously looked into every pot and examined the labels of the different vessels.

“Yeah, so this is the kitchen. There’s some food in the fridge, but as you can see, we mostly use the kitchen to prepare the necessities for spells and potions,” he made a vague hand gesture around the room, “It shouldn’t really matter to you just yet. I’ll teach you about these things eventually.”

“Ooh, hyung, that’s so cool! You need to know, that I’m very bad at cooking though.” Jisung was still examining the kitchen counter and now eyeing what he thought to be the fridge with “some food”.

“That’s not exactly-“ Minho wanted to protest that mixing potions and cooking wasn’t comparable, but got interrupted.

“Can I take a drink, hyung?” Jisung asked, already pulling at the handle.

“Oh no no, that’s the freezer, don’t -“

“Whuaa!!” The curious boy let out a yelp at what presented itself to him, there in the freezer.

“I told you not to” Minho muttered, bringing a hand up to his forehead in irritation.

“Minho, is that blood in your freezer??” Jisung asked in shock and slightly nervous of its implications.

“Well, you see, we need some for …uhm …the rituals. Don’t worry though, we just keep a bit and it’s animal blood. To be exact, blood of a white goat, which had just died of old age. We have some morals in this household, you know,” at first Minho tried to laugh it off, but then decided to stick to an apologetic tone. He couldn’t afford to scare the younger boy off.

“Alright, I see, you take this all very seriously. Can you show me the other rooms? Preferably, the bathroom first,” Jisung requested, he wanted to regain his composure, and locking himself up in the bathroom seemed to be the best option for that.

“Ah, sure.” Minho understood, turned around and pointed a finger at the door opposite from the kitchen.

“That’s the bathroom. Take your time. Please, don’t touch any of the vials and bottles, beside the soap though. One of the absent club members is very serious about these and doesn’t like other people to mess with them.”

Jisung nodded and quickly made his way into the washroom, locking the door behind him. He went straight for the washbasin and spritzed a bit of water in his face to clear his mind again. He was distraught because of the blood in the freezer. If he thought about it rationally though, that wasn’t that big of a deal. If you join an magic club, maybe you should expect something like that, he reasoned. If it was any other club, he could’ve found much worse in the freezer. Minho didn’t seem to be a creep like that, and he had obviously made an effort to explain himself. He knew it would be a troubling sight to see. Minho cared for their new member. So, Jisung decided to stick around for a bit longer and to see what the club was all about after all. Up until now, he really thought the “magic circle” was some kind of exaggerated joke and it would turn out to be more of a book club with some weird discussions about mythology. He had underestimated the situation, but along with that realization came even more curiosity. He wanted to know more.

After he finished his internal debate, Jisung started to examine the room. He hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings, since he had walked in. The mirror he was staring into during his pep talk was antique, spotty and had a frame consisting of gold ornaments. The shelves bore countless of little flasks and vials with softly colored liquids, which were probably perfumes and some cosmetics. The shelves themselves were a bit dirty, the contents of the small bottles must have spilled quite a few times, and no one had cared enough to clean it. The room was small and had only one window. Due to its size the room seemed packed already, even though it only contained basic bathroom appliances and, well, hundreds of little bottles.

When he left the bathroom, he saw that Minho had been waiting for him in the hallway. Minho didn’t notice him right away though, because he was currently crouching down in front of his cat, very invested in finding the perfect spot to scratch its neck. It was a sweet scene to look at. The shop owner that looked intimidating at first glance turned into a soft young man who whispered endearing words to his cute, grey cat.

As Minho noticed the other, he focused his attention back on his new club member, checking briefly if he was alright. Then he moved to open the last door.

“So, and this is the actual chamber of the Nebelung Magic Circle, where we conduct rituals, divination, summonings and stuff like that.”

Jisung entered the mysterious room at the end of the hallway. After Minho turned on the lights, which in this case was just one lightbulb connected by cable to the center of the ceiling. Once again, he found carvings on the doorframe, but not only there. The whole hardwood floor was covered in carvings. They had carved varieties of pentagrams, sigils and images into the sturdy wood. Jisung could’ve looked at them for ages and he was sure that he would still find new stories in the art that covered the ground. The walls were equally densely covered. The wallpaper might have been an emerald color, but it was hard to tell. Paintings, tapestries, medals and multiple clocks had been pinned to the wall. In between, beautifully ornamented daggers and rusty scissors pierced through notes and posters to make them stay on the walls. Pendants of different length, made out of various metals and gemstones, hung from the ceiling. Burned down candles in cups and still burning incense in painted bowls were all over the room, on shelves and small tables. There was a beat-up sofa and two armchairs covered in maroon leather in the corner of the room. Next to the seats was probably a window, but that was difficult to determine, since the majority of the wall was covered by a giant tapestry, by far the biggest out of the multiples in the room. It depicted two men, one of them kneeling in front of the other. Both were dressed in black, producing only little contrast to the blueish background. It was difficult to interpret, especially since the room was only poorly lit. It seemed like the man, who was standing, held silvery flames in his hands which was given to him by the man who was kneeling. Surrounding the depicted scene were a multitude of sigils and script, which must have told the story that the onlooker saw. On a big wooden desk near by the door was a collection of weirdly shaped stones and something that looked way to similar to actual bones. Next to that assortment, were ink-splattered papers and old books stacked to little towers. It was a lot to take in, but nosy Jisung was already looking forward to exploring everything.

Behind him, Minho stepped into the room.

“So, this is the room where we have our meetings. Usually, we meet on Sunday evenings and then talk about new spells or books or whatever it is that we discovered and then after discussing them, we plan some new projects. We don’t really have an agenda yet. That means you can just come by on Sunday at 8pm and we discuss everything further and see if we can plan something more concrete.” Minho absentmindedly adjusted the rings on his hands, while looking at Jisung expectantly.

That was a suspiciously vague description of club activities. Jisung contemplated for a while if he wouldn’t get himself into some kind of crazy cult.

“Uhm, of course, you can leave the circle whenever you want. There is no hazing and there are also no foreseeable consequences, if you decide against staying. We are all free to do whatever, it’s more like a companionship. We don’t follow any fundamental rules per se,” Minho had recognized the doubt on Jisung's face and was quick to aid the uncertainty.

Once again, curiosity overtook Jisung and let no room for suspicion, so he agreed,” Alright, then I will just come back here, on Sunday at 8pm, right?”

“Exactly. I’m looking forward to it,” Minho tried his best to keep a serious face, but Jisung could still recognize relief and delight on his features.

They went back to the front of the shop. Jisung had already bid his goodbye, when he heard a loud meow from the cash register. He turned around and promptly needed to giggle. Innie was sitting on his books on the counter, looking at him as if to say “Hey, don’t forget your books”. Jisung retrieved the books and thanked the cute feline, before exiting the store.

Minho came back out of the maze of shelves and sat down behind the cash register next to his familiar. “You really think it’s him?” He looked at Innie with a stern look.

_Of course, I already marked him. _

“I have seen that. Was that really necessary? To scratch him right after just meeting him? He hadn’t even joined the circle, and you wanted to track his energy already. What if he had thought you were feral? You could’ve scared him away,” Minho nearly felt his blood pressure increase because of his fluffy companion.

_Calm down, you’re overreacting! I knew it would be fine. I was sure it’s him and would’ve needed to do that sooner or later anyways. If anyone, it’s you who needs to make an effort in not scaring him away. I’m a cat and a very fluffy cat at that, meaning cute enough to capture his heart whatever the situation. _

If cats could laugh, he surely would’ve heard an evil laugh at his cat’s teasing.

“Demon cat! You’re giving me a headache,” Minho groaned and rubbed his temples.

“I’m back,” Jisung exclaimed happily as he took off his shoes after entering his dorm room.

Felix turned around on his desk chair to greet his roommate. To put it nicely, he looked distressed. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair had been mussed up in despair. He must’ve been working on his assignments the whole time and by the looks of it also hadn’t finished yet.

“Did you bring food?” Felix asked in a raspy voice that indicated he should probably drink some water. “Or ecstasy? I need something that makes me finish this paper,” he added and threw his head back in agony.

“Uhm, no,” Jisung answered concerned, “but I got books and I might have joined a magic circle?” he continued sheepishly.

Felix looked up at him incredulously, “Jisung, what the fuck? What are you even saying?”


	2. II - This System Does Not Govern The Spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovely reader! I hope you have a great start of October and maybe this chapter can contribute :D

“How could you just go along with that? He could’ve lured you into this creepy ritual chamber to do, well, whatever to you!” Felix was clearly bothered by his roommate’s decision, after he had listened to Jisung's whole story.

“Calm down, you’re exaggerating. I was aware of the risks, but nothing about him seemed threatening to me,” Jisung just shrugged, trying to soothe Felix.

“That still sounds pretty sketchy to me,” Felix commented earnestly.

Jisung seemed to be preoccupied as he was telling the story, probably because he had to sort out all of the odd impressions, he had taken in. Felix worried about his best friend, not only because that story sounded surreal to him, but also because he was feeling apprehensive for him. He had heard of stories similar to Jisung's, where the other members in those cults would drug their new companion and assault them or do similarly cruel things. There were some crazy people out there.

“I know, I was uncertain of whole thing too, but Minho seems like a good guy and weirdly enough I even trust him. I’m just curious and want to see how this goes,” Jisung explained. Deep in thought he was staring at the ceiling, lying on his bed in their shared room.

“Okay, it’s your decision, but if it gets super weird, feel free to ask me for help. If it makes you more comfortable, I wouldn’t mind accompanying you either. It would ease my mind too, to be honest, now that I know about your plans, I can’t help but worrying about you,” Felix offered, or more so pleaded. He knew Jisung tended to behave rather recklessly.

“Alright, I tell you if it gets uncomfortable being there on my own. I will go there alone first though, this Sunday. We’ll see how that goes and if turns out to be even weirder then expected, then I might ask them if it’s okay to bring you along. If they are complete psychos, I would just leave anyways, so don’t worry too much.”

***

“So, you’re telling me you found a new member for our magic circle, who knows absolutely nothing about who we actually are. And somehow, he is also coincidentally the one person, who can amplify your power?” Changbin inquired skeptically.

“Well, yes,” Minho knew it sounded too good to be true. He had been trying to find those rare people that could amplify a wizard’s power for a long time now. Surprisingly enough, it was Jisung who had unknowingly found him and not vice versa. The boy seemed to be completely unaware of what kind of spiritual energy he held inside him. To top it all of he had just so easily agreed to join him in his work. Minho was suspicious of his luck, but even more inspired to chase after his goals again. He had a lot of plans that were only waiting for Jisung's advent.

“That sounds like trouble is on its way already. But who, if not me, welcomes trouble anytime?” Changbin mused wickedly.

“Please, don’t make this hard on us. It will be a lot to take in for Jisung as it is, so try and restrain your demon antics at least a little bit,” Minho was aware of how delicate his luck was. He couldn’t force Jisung to stay in the circle to help him, consequently he needed to make sure that Jisung felt comfortable and intrigued to join their world. And since they were expecting him in just a few minutes, as it was Sunday evening, Minho wanted to remind his otherworldly accomplice of their mission.

“I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t guarantee success,” Changbin answered with a mischievous grin.

Changbin was currently lounging on their old couch with Innie curled up on his stomach, while Minho was preparing some herbs to burn later. Suddenly, the cat raised its head, ears twitching.

_Jisung is in the shop, Minho_

“Thanks, Innie. I’ll go get him,” Minho thanked his familiar by giving him a quick pat on his head.

Shortly after, he came back with Jisung in tow. Jisung was clearly confused as he saw another person in the room. Was that one of the supposedly absent members? He certainly gave of the air of someone at home. Jisung examined the boy, who was lying on the couch in a careless manner, a bit further. He was about their age, dressed casually in all-black and currently trying to annoy the cat that used him as a human bed. Was it even human? Because, when Jisung gave him a once over, his gaze stuck to the boy’s head. His hair was black and messy, not out of the ordinary. But, in between the raven strands, he noticed two pointy objects. Were those horns? Jisung was perplexed, either that boy was a freak, or he needed to start praying for his sanity.

The boy in question noticed Jisung staring and turned his head to raise an eyebrow at the other.

“Jisung, come and meet Changbin. Have a seat, please.” Minho went to the seating area and gestured for Jisung to sit on one of the armchairs. Weary of the new presence, Jisung followed Minho closely and sat down. On the coffee table in front of them stood a tea service. Minho poured him a cup of the steaming hot liquid. Going by the smell of it, it should be chamomile. Jisung thanked him and lifted the cup to his lips, taking a sip.

“So, uhm, I think we should introduce us. Properly,” said Minho with emphasis, intently observing Jisung. The other, Changbin, was eying Jisung too, but with a rather malicious smirk. Jisung, despite the uneasy atmosphere, just nodded, oddly calm.

Minho continued,” Technically, I introduced myself already, but there’s more you should know. My name is Minho, as you already know, and I am not only running the book shop, but I am also a wizard.”

Jisung, let out a disbelieving laugh and scowled at the “wizard”, “Well, I know that you’re into magic and stuff, but isn’t calling yourself a wizard a bit much?”

“Ha, my sweet summer child, I sure didn’t take his soul for nothing,” Changbin intervened, unimpressed by the younger boy’s criticism.

“Changbin! That’s not how we agreed on doing this!” Minho reprimanded,” Okay, Jisung. I … what Changbin said is true, but let me explain. So, obviously I am a human, but I’ve been dabbling in witchcraft for quite a while now and found out about a lot of things I wouldn’t have dreamed to exist either. So, humans like me and you don’t have much mystic energy per se, right? I knew that and I knew that I would need to strike a deal with a powerful creature. Consequently, I looked for nature spirits, because they seemed to be nicer and more approachable than the alternative, which would be a demon.”

“Hey, are you saying I’m not nice? I’m totally lovable!” Changbin protested exasperated.

Minho, however, unfazed, ignored him and continued telling his story to an evidently bewildered Jisung.

“Turns out, I had nothing to offer to any kind of nature spirit that would make them want to collaborate with me. So, I had to resort to summoning a demon. It took a while to get a response, but eventually Changbin got into contact with me. Apparently, he was bored and fed up with his tasks in the underworld or whatever. Therefore, he decided to negotiate with me. We figured that the thing he most desired was a free existence on earth and I wanted the powers to become a proper wizard. That could only be achieved, if I promised him my soul. And I did. I got the power and by feeding on my soul he gets to experience what its like to be a human, more or less.”

“Those horns are real then?” Jisung wondered.

“Really? That’s the thing that’s on your mind just after this revelation?” Changbin deadpanned.

“Well, I guess,” Jisung shrugged and questioned,” hmm, also how can I believe you? You might as well just pull a prank on me.”

“No problem,” Changbin was quick to dispel Jisung's suspicion.

Changbin sat up on the couch, shooing away Innie, who then got comfortable on Minho's lap instead. The demon snapped the fingers on his right hand and suddenly held a rosé-colored flame in his hand. Jisung face indicated that he had seen a trick like that before in a circus performance. Even though by now it was clear to him, that the “chamomile tea” Minho had given to him, definitely contained an additional component to calm down his nerves. Changbin noticed the others nonchalant expression and promptly burst into flames. Not figuratively, but quite literally. Changbin's whole human form was in flames. A coat of pink fire enveloped him. Jisung could faintly see his skin blacken. He didn’t set anything else aflame, but he was screeching and burning, slowly loosing substance. By now Jisung had sprung up from the armchair, in shock, mouth wide open and at a loss for words. He felt Minho's hand grabbing like he wanted to support the younger, as he saw Changbin's form falling to the ground and vanishing in the blaze. As quickly as the whole show started, the flames vanished, the air surrounding them moved and where he just now had been burning to the ground, the demon materialized in front of them.

With a cocky smile, Changbin just went back to the couch, threw himself onto the cushions and then grinned at Jisung.

“Are you convinced now? That I am, in fact, a demon and that that confirms Minho as a wizard?”

Jisung just stared at him, paralyzed by the show the demon had pulled off. He started stammering an answer, when Minho interjected.

“You could’ve demonstrated your magic a bit less dramatic, you know? I’m so done with this over-the-top demon drama,” he rubbed his temples, turning to Jisung he went on,” Yes, so I guess he brought the point across. We do, in fact, possess real magic abilities.” Minho looked at Jisung, awaiting a reaction. Jisung, still dazed, showed little reaction and just sat down on the armchair again. You could see on his ways that he was processing a lot right now, and surely was also questioning his perception.

“Okay, I don’t really know what to say. Uhm… but if you… if you got real magic powers anyways, how would I be able to contribute to your rituals in any way. Oh my god,”-Changbin winced in disgust- “you are not going to sacrifice me, are you?" At this point, Jisung was glad he had drunk the whole cup of tea, otherwise, he thought, he might have fainted by now.

“Oh, he hit the nail right on its head. Good question, kid” Changbin laughed slyly. Otherwise, the demon busied himself with all kinds of nonsense, not really interested in the human.

“What? You are going to sacrifice me?” Jisung shrieked, standing up again with the intention to make it out of there alive. Minho, having good reflexes, was quick to grab Jisung by the wrist and pull him back down again. He gave off a calming aura and fixated Jisung with a faithful gaze, moving his hands so that he gently held onto Jisung's hand. Jisung felt warmth in his chest. A small voice in the back of his head provided the idea that he might be bewitched by him, but he ignored it. In this moment, he felt sanctuary in the others presence. Oh, the irony.

“It’s okay, Jisung. We won’t sacrifice you and it was never our intention to do so. Changbin meant that it is a reasonable question to ask why we wanted you to join us. Very sharp. Yeah, so, you remember Innie here,” Minho gestured at the cat in his lap,” He is my familiar. Now, we can communicate by, what you would probably call, telepathy. Innie has the special ability to track other people’s energies after, well, marking them. We apologize for the scratch, sorry about that. Innie noticed that your energy has certain properties that can strengthen my powers. And that is necessary for a summoning we have been planning for a while now. Don’t worry though, the only thing you have to do, as far as we know, is sitting next to me during the ritual.”

Now, Jisung just stared at him blankly. Minho took a deep breath, he had tried his best to explain everything so that Jisung wouldn’t be overwhelmed, but that seemed to be impossible.

“Look, I know it’s a lot, but take your time. Next Sunday, we would like to try and summon another demon to communicate with him. It’s just that, nothing dangerous. For the ritual, all we do is prepare a pentagram, some candles and some incense, and then we burn a sigil. That’s all and as I said, you just need to sit beside me. If anything doesn’t go as planned, I will, of course, protect you,” Minho said comfortingly, still holding the younger's hand in his.

That didn’t sound too bad in Jisung head, but it was still a lot to think about.

“Okay, so I’d have another week to mentally prepare myself, I guess?”

“Of course, even longer, if you need it.”

“Uhm, I have a question then. Is it okay, if I bring my friend with me? It would make me feel a lot safer. Not that I don’t trust you, Minho, I just don’t trust everything else,” he side-eyed the demon on the couch.

“Ah, don’t worry about Changbin. Ultimately, I have more power over him than he does. So, if he were to seriously bother you, I can reprimand him easily. And, yes, of course. You can bring your friend. As long as you won’t make our magic abilities the newspaper headlines or something. I think it’s clear though, that our activities are not something to tell your mom or anyone else about. They wouldn’t believe you anyways. They would think, you’re insane or joking, but still we would like to keep a low profile,” Minho finished with an awkward laugh. Maybe that’s why they had such a low member count.

“Thank you and believe me when I say I never had the intention to tell anyone but my best friend about this. People think I’m odd already, it would probably be the death of social life.” Jisung chuckled, just as awkwardly as the other just had. Even though, Minho appeared to be unapproachable at times, moments like this showed that they were still somewhat on the same wavelength.

“Alright then, just come to the shop if you have any further questions. Otherwise, we just see each other next Sunday. You should probably rest, first.”

Jisung nodded. Minho took that as a cue and slowly stood up, tucking the younger along with him. Making their way out of the room, Jisung turned around with the intention to say goodbye to Changbin. However, Changbin, it seemed was…asleep? Well then, Jisung decided to not pay the rude demon any mind. At the door, Minho finally released Jisung's hand. The younger hadn’t even noticed that they were still holding hands and blushed a bit. He didn’t think of it as a romantic gesture initially. The contact had assured him that he was still sane and not dreaming. Still, he couldn’t help himself but think of that action as endearing.

They murmured short goodbyes, exchanged weary smiles and then Jisung was already on his way out of the shop. While walking alongside the street, he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened.

When he was back at the dorms and in his room, he just threw himself onto his bed. Just like last Thursday, Felix was sitting at his desk losing his mind over the university workload.

“Lix, we have a demon summoning next Sunday.”

“Hm, sounds good.” It seemed like that assignment required a substantial amount of attention.

“Wait, we have what?” Felix stared at him as if he just got the most painful headache, which might be true, but Jisung just had to laugh at his best friend’s facial expression.

After he regained his composure he explained,” Not gonna lie, my reaction to that must have been similar. Yes, so turns out Minho got actual magic abilities, a pact with a demon and another demon we need to communicate with next Sunday. I’m still trying to deal with the whole thing too, so let’s just talk about it later. I need some sleep first, after all I got to meet a demon and I held a pretty boy’s hand. Life is pretty overwhelming these days.”

“I agree. You do need sleep.” If Felix didn’t think, Jisung was slightly crazy before, he sure did now. His friend got himself in eccentric situation, which was so surreal that, if it wasn’t Jisung who got into it, he wouldn’t have thought possible.

***

Minho came back into the room, where Changbin was still lying on the couch, but this time expectantly looking at him.

“Wow, that was kinda like good cop and bad cop, wasn’t it? You’re really doing your best in winning that kid over,” Changbin said teasingly.

“Shut up. I just want to strike a deal with that demon to get enough power, so that I don’t need to listen to your shenanigans anymore.” Minho shot in a sour look.

“Sure thing. It just looks like you are using a lot more charm than is actually necessary. Don’t worry though, I heard it’s normal to develop feelings for your spellbound,” Changbin commented unaffected by ms cynicism.

“We don’t know that! We don’t know if he is my spellbound with certainty.” Minho raised his voice, wanting to end the discussion. Too much had been said already. He didn’t want to think about it.

Changbin just shrugged, now that he had the other riled up, with disinterest,” I don’t know man, looks like that to me. At least, Innie says so.”

***

“So, just to be clear. He said we would be summoning a demon today?”

Felix was walking along side Jisung, following him to his second meeting with the magic circle. He wasn’t sure what to make of the whole situation. He didn’t quite believe his best friend, but then again it didn’t seem like he was joking before.

“Exactly, that’s what Minho said. Apparently, we are just going to talk and he said it’s nothing special. However, it turns out that Minho is actually a wizard and has a demon friend. You need to come with me, so that they don’t outnumber me and maybe to reassure my sanity when you see the same crazy shit that I see,” Jisung confirmed with a slightly unbalanced tone.

“Alright,” Felix drew out the a skeptically,” I guess that’s just what you do when you’re friends with someone like you.” He sighed exasperatedly.

“Hey, don’t be like that. You can’t tell me that you aren’t glad to have this excuse to leave all your boring assignments lying on your desk and get out of the house. It might be a weird alternative, but protecting your roommate from threatening demons is for sure a good one.”

“Sure, whatever,” Felix grumbled, but lightly smiled anyways, anticipating what Jisung would drag him into.

A few minutes later they found themselves standing in the Nebelung Magic Circle’s ritual chamber. Minho had welcomed them and busied himself with preparing the summoning. Changbin was nowhere to be seen. From what Minho had told him, Jisung concluded that he would join them any minute though. Felix was in awe of the room and immersed in examining all the strange things he could find in the room.

“Jisung, have you explained to your friend what’s happening today and told him about-“

“Whuaaa!!”

Minho was interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek.

Changbin had appeared in a ring of flames directly in front of Felix' nose. The flames quickly vanished, but left the demon gleaming for a few seconds. Currently he was leaning still a bit closer to Felix and was peering curiously into the scared boy’s eyes.

Changbin examined the human. His eyes were fearful, but still pure and shining with wonder. There were little dots sprinkled on his cheeks; freckles. _Fascinating. _They looked like the pollen that you would get on your face when you smelled a flower too closely and sneezed into it. Or like the stars on a clear night in early spring. Or like the dots of ink when you loose grip on your fountain pen and it scatters over your paper. The demons gaze wandered down, noting the particularly delicate tip of his nose, to the boy’s lips. Lips that were rosy and glistening like a dewy blossom, shaped to a mouth slightly ajar in surprise.

Noticing motion in the features of the angelic boy, the demon snapped out of it. Leaving those uncharacteristically poetic thoughts aside, he returned to his usual snark and sharp tongue.

“Jisung, is this your friend?” Changbin's gaze flitted momentarily to Jisung, before he huffed and continued,” looks a bit too angelic to be in the same room than us. Don’t you think, Minho?”

Felix had just recovered from his shock, when he once again felt dumbstruck; That guy had said it with such a malice and venom that the term “angelic” suddenly sounded like a huge offense. Then again, maybe by the standards of this person, that Felix figured must be the demon Jisung had been talking about, it actually was a major insult. So, did this guy just backhandedly complimented him? They only just met and he had felt the need to offend him? Felix figured that it must’ve been typical for a demon, which he recognized him as. 

On the other side of the room, where Minho was still busy with some candles, the wizard just waved them off with a ,” Leave the poor kid alone, Changbin!”

“Why?” Changbin whined, “I thought this human was supposed to keep me company, while you are busy with Jisung?”

The wizard gave a warning glare as response to this ambiguous wording and silently demanded the demon to quit his nonsense.

“Fine, can we get started with the summoning then?” Changbin huffed and started checking the progress of Minho's work.

Felix was left standing in somewhat awkwardly by himself as Jisung joined Minho to see what the other was preparing. Felix' cheeks were a bit reddened. He was irritated by the demon and even more irked by his own reaction. Usually, Felix would stand his ground, calm and collected, shutting down any kind of disrespect. However, he was so surprised by the demon’s demeanor and actions that he just froze in his spot. To his defense though, no normal person just stared someone down and proceeds to talk to their face about them, but not with them. If Changbin didn’t even talk to him, how could he talk back?

Changbin sat down on the couch, not too impressed with what was happening.

Felix hadn’t had anything particular to do or anywhere to go, so he figured he could take this chance to show that rude demon that he was certainly not intimidated by his stupid horns. So, to spite him, Felix went over to the couch that Changbin was sitting on and plopped down next to him without sparing the other a glance. Changbin was visibly surprised and raised an eyebrow at the blond boy, who just continued to ignore him.

“Everything is prepared! We are ready to summon. Jisung, sit here, next to me!” Minho exclaimed. The wizard was evidently thrilled about what was about to happen. Just completely in his element, you could see the magic running through his veins, Jisung thought. It was a fascinating sight.

Jisung sat down next to Minho cross-legged. In front of the two, the wizard had drawn a pentagram with chalk. In every corner of the star, there were burgundy candles and, in the middle, a small bowl with herbs that were slowly burning to nothing but a faint trace of smoke. Minho was holding a small red paper in his hands. On this paper he had drawn, in black ink, a sigil. Jisung didn’t know how sigils worked, but he still tried to understand some of the intricate and abstract images inside the drawn circle.

“Put your hand on my shoulder. I will read out the prayer first and then burn the sigil. If everything works as planned, and we provide enough energy, we should be able to communicate with the demon,” Minho instructed, his voice laced with anticipation.

Jisung complied and hesitantly laid his hand on Minho's shoulder. Minho started talking in a tongue that was foreign to him. At some point he identified the language as Latin, but the words still didn’t make any sense to him;

“- et in virtute altissimi vos coniuramus atque vobis imperamus per potentissimum atque fortissimum nomen dei El. - “

Jisung tuned out of Minho's words again. He was going to get a headache trying to get behind all of this. So, he decided to just observe the wizard doing his work. Minho must have known the words by heart, because the words were continuously spilling from his lips. He was concentrating, eyebrows furrowed, while staring at the sigil in his hands. Then, in his one hand, he lit a small flame, brought it near the sigil and lit it on fire.

As half of the sigil had burned been burned to ashes, Minho exclaimed in a tremendous voice, “Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates!” He then threw the paper in the bowl with the incense.

The candles were suffocated by a sudden wind that came about. It got dark. The only source of light in the room were now just the gleaming herbs and the slowly fading glow of the burnt sigil. It was enough for Jisung to examine M expression. His eyebrows, earlier furrowed in concentration, were now furrowed in dissatisfaction. 

Changbin, draped over the couch lazily, shot a few flames at some candles in his vicinity and thus brought light back into the room.

“Hm, that sucks. I guess it wasn’t enough,” Changbin huffed, not really caring.

“No, it wasn’t,” Minho muttered in a grim tone.

He turned his head to look at Jisung. Jisung was already looking at the wizard and squeaked a bit in surprise at the intensity of the stare. Minho was incredibly intimidating when he was in his “wizard mode”.

“Jisung, I hope you don’t mind, but there is something that we have to resolve first. It is most likely in both of our interests, but it might be difficult and take some time. Do you trust me?”

Jisung, the poor boy, was just incredibly and utterly lost. Speechless and blankly staring at the wizard, he couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo Magic!! Sooo, the first summoning failed, but there's always a second chance, right? :D I did some research for this chapter. However, my only sources were weird articles on the internet from which I tried to find some common themes. So, it's kinda your standard ritual situation. Since there is a lot of different witchcraft/magic stuff from all kind of different cultures, I will probably derive most of the spells and prayers from the Key of Solomon?? At least it's apparently some kind of 'acknowledged' work in the magic community and it is discussed on the internet a lot. The Latin part in this chapter is from the Key of Solomon too, but I gathered them rather randomly, because I didn't want to read the whole thing and spend hours on picking the best thing. I just chose phrases that would somewhat fit. And since I did study Latin in school it was actually fun. Not the whole work was written in Latin though, there is some Hebrew and Italian. Anyways, the first phrase can be translated to "We command you and potently ordain you by the most strong and powerful name of God EL". I do not take credit for the translation ofc, but I can confirm with my knowledge of the language that it's accurate. The second phrase can be interpreted as "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven". Oh, if you have trouble imagining how these sigils could look like, the wikipedia entry on "sigil (magic)" gives a lot of examples or you can just google Lesser Key of Solomon.  
Well, I guess now we wait and see how the problem will be solved :D Thank you for reading!!


	3. III - I know the voice of the wicked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!!

Jisung tried to solve the mental puzzle that was plaguing his head at the moment. So, the summoning had failed. Why did it fail though? As far as he had understood the situation, he had been the missing piece in all of this. After all they only wanted to communicate with the other demon, right? That shouldn’t be that difficult. Still, something “wasn’t enough” and now Minho asked him if Jisung trusted him?

Jisung's brain short circuited at all the possible scenarios that could happen, prompted by the need for Minho to know if Jisung trusted them. If the wizard needs to know about that, it was surely something dangerous that needed to be done or –

“Jisung! Hey, focus on me,” Minho interrupted his train of thoughts and took Jisung's hand, which had previously lain on the wizard’s shoulder, into his.

Jisung blinked at the older and slowly but surely got back control over his thoughts.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. Nothing is going to happen, don’t worry. But we would still like to discuss some things with you, if you want to.”

Minho looked at Jisung with concern and a reassuring warmth that made the other feel nervous on the inside.

Jisung looked away and stammered,” Why do you want to discuss this? You said, all I need to do is be present for your witchcraft to work better. If that’s not enough, then you should just look for another person that can do better than me.” He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but deep down he felt disappointed in himself. Jisung hadn’t been able to help them. He had let them down and now they would doubt him. How would he be useful now. Both, Minho and Changbin, were magical beings with special abilities that had taken him in, because he had magical energy himself, at least if they were telling him the truth. Now, however, he has nothing to offer anymore, right? So, what was the point.

“I have a suspicion. I think there might be something that we need to do. It’s not only for the sake of this project, but I think you benefit from looking into it too. On a personal level.”

“Just tell me what it is then,” Jisung demanded, tired of the unnecessary ambiguity.

“As I said it’s just a suspicion. I didn’t expect to encounter a person like the one you might be, so I would need to do some research tonight in order to not give you any false information.” Minho fell into silence. Deep in thought, he adverted his gaze. Then snapping back up with certainty,” Come with me, we need to browse some bookshelves. I think I have one or two books that could give us answers.”

Minho stood up and extended his hand to help Jisung get up too. Hesitantly, Jisung accepted the offer. After taking a few steps towards the door, Minho stopped again and turned around, facing Changbin and Felix, who were still sitting on the couch.

“You two get along well, right? Stay here.”

Felix looked shocked and wanted to protest, while Changbin just grinned wickedly, assuring Minho with a thumbs-up. Changbin didn’t really have any bad intentions regarding Felix, but he still liked to mess with the newcomer. The human’s reactions were just too funny to him. And maybe he found him a little adorable too.

With little concern regarding their response, Minho had already continued dragging Jisung out of the room and to some bookshelves in the far back of the shop. In between the bookshelves was also a small table with two armchairs. Minho gestured to him to go and sit. So, Jisung did. The wizard was hurriedly scanning a particular shelve with intent and soon pulled out two big leather-clad books. He returned to Jisung and sat down in the other armchair after placing the two books on the table.

“Before I can look up some stuff in these books, there are some things you need to tell me. First of all are there any sensitive topics that you can’t talk about? I don’t want you to get a panic attack or anything, because we are about to discuss some serious and personal matters. That is, if you agree.”

“Well…,” Jisung was hesitant,” I guess I’ll be fine. I don’t usually get anxious or start panicking in conversations.”

“Alright, then I’ll tell you about my suspicion first. Listen carefully. So, the people that can fortify a wizard’s energy are very rare. They are usually special to the wizard, meaning that if you can support my craft you won’t be able to do anything for another wizard. For the lack of a better description, you can think of it as soulmates with the difference that it’s more or less my fault for dabbling too much in black magic. We call them spellbounds. They make up for whatever the other is lacking, but not to make the other better, just to – let’s say - get on a neutral basis. That means that you would need to have a lot of compassionate aspects to you, the aspects that I have lost when I sold my soul to a demon. Okay, so now I have a question for you.”

So far, Jisung seemingly took in the information well. It wasn’t anything too dangerous, considering he had just sat in a demon summoning (even though that had failed).

“Would you describe yourself as a person characterized by fondness, creativity and the like?”

Jisung pondered for a moment. That was certainly an unusual question.

“Well, not particularly, I guess. I am fond of a few people and most animals, but how could fondness even be considered a character trait? And creativity… I study literature you know, sometimes I write a bit, but I wouldn’t think of myself as creative in general.”

“Yes, that was to be expected. Then I have another question,” Minho paused, knowing the next question would be difficult but necessary,” How are your parents? Are they doing well?”

Jisung's mouth fell open. Did Minho know? Did he know about his family situation? No, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t ask, if he did, right? So, Jisung gathered all his courage and decided to share his story with the wizard.

“No, my parents are not doing well. My father died when I was a child and my mother couldn’t cope well, she was sent to a mental institution and committed suicide a few years after. I have been living with my grandma most of the time.”

Minho didn’t seem fazed at all, more so he looked calculating. Then with visible sympathy for the boy he continued,” I’m sorry for your loss. It must have been hard on you. Would you mind telling me about their situation in more detail, if you remember?”

Jisung nodded,” My grandma told me that my parents’ relation wasn’t the best even in the beginning. Not the best is probably an understatement. Their relationship was horrible. They got together and had managed to built a life together, but my mother wanted to leave my father. She told him about it like it was nothing big to her, like it was just her plans for the weekend. They didn’t split up right away. You know, even when there are no more feelings involved, people can still lust after each other. So, my father got my mother pregnant. We suspect that he somehow tricked her into not using contraception, thinking that having a baby would hinder her from breaking up with him. My father was truly wicked for doing so. He didn’t only break my mother’s trust in him, but also made me despise him. I have these thoughts … I don’t really know, but I might be the product, If you will, of rape? Just that possibility and the certainty that I sure wasn’t wanted eats away at me. I really can’t say that I miss my father. Even after deciding to stay together for… my sake, they continuously argued, they fought. Plates got smashed, faces slapped and sometimes a bone was broken. I was lucky that most of the time my grandmother saved me from witnessing these things. One day my father just disappeared. There was a police investigation. We think my father died, but his corpse was never found. The police even suspected my mother. They found blood in their bedroom, but they were never able to generate any evidence. In the end they still managed to get my mother locked up, because the whole situation ruined her mental health up to the point where she just needed constant supervision. So, they send her to a psychiatric hospital, where she committed suicide a few years later.”

Minho was surprised by how composed Jisung was able to tell this story. He seemed to have distanced himself. Then he saw how Jisung had balled his fist resting on his thighs. Minho noted his knuckles turning white and apparently Jisung, too, was staring at them intently. Jisung's eyes were completely focused and expressionless, but Minho still detected the sheen of tears that won’t fall in them.

Suddenly, Jisung looked up at Minho with a wary smile,” I’m doing better without them though. Does this information help? What are we going to do?”

Minho got even more surprised. Jisung was really strong in controlling his emotions and burying his feelings. Still being able to smile so easily, when you got those kinds of thoughts ghosting in the back of your head, was impressive.

The wizard reached out to Jisung, laying his hand onto the other’s in a soothing manner, and smiled at him encouragingly, “Yes, it helps a lot. Let me look up some details in these books first and then I will tell you.”

After skimming through the texts for a few minutes with Jisung watching the wizard curiously, Minho had found the answers he was searching for.

“Okay, so I am going to tell you my theory now. Of course, it’s your choice if you want to believe me or not, but I also think that at this point you know that all of this is not just a very elaborate prank.”

Minho looked at Jisung for confirmation, to which Jisung just nodded meekly at him. It was evident on his face that Jisung was nervous to hear what the wizard had to say.

“Alright, so first of all I think your parents were possessed by demons for most of your story,” Minho started and then briefly paused to check for a reaction. Jisung, however, just looked back at him blankly. So, Minho decided to continue with his reasoning,” usually humans don’t love like that. I mean not full of conflicting feelings, destructive and resentful. They don’t act like that unless evil spirits are involved. In this case, because it developed into a tragedy, I believe they weren’t just evil spirits, but even demons. It is likely that your father died when the two demons fought with their human bodies. In a sense, your mother might have killed your father, only influenced by demonic possession. Once the demon left your mothers body, she lost her sanity as possessed people usually stay fully conscious throughout. You are not an unwanted child. Jisung, you are what the _liber daemonum possessionem _calls a son of hatred and destruction and a child of love and creation. Your demonic father embodied hatred and your demonic mother embodied destruction. When the two collide, catastrophe ensues, but you as… how should I put it. I’m sorry for the unfitting comparison, but you know how in mathematics, when you put two negatives together you end up with positive number? It is like that, kind of,” Minho cringed at his own rhetoric inability,” anyways, you compensate for your parents. You are one of the few children of love and creation that wander this earth. There is no particular quest for you to pursue, you simply got the gift of bringing joy to this world. In our case, as we already told you, you can make up for my shortcomings. Particularly, the shortcomings I obtained when I traded my soul. It made me less human. Less capable of, well, love and creation.”

At this, Jisung let out a small “oh”. He had been listening without showing much reaction, until now. The things the wizard had just told him fit into the story of his parents and his childhood, so it didn’t seem too absurd to him. Well, considering that he had accepted the existence of demons and magic. However, what didn’t fit in with his current view on the world and his circumstances was that Minho described himself as being less human. To Jisung, Minho had come off as a kind person, even though that impression was sometimes sabotaged by stuff like demon summoning et cetera. As far as he had observed, he was friendly even to Changbin, even though the wizard stated that he was currently more powerful than his companion, who was clearly more often annoying than helpful. Maybe, Jisung thought, Minho meant less capable of love on a deeper level. He would be lying, if he said he wasn’t at least slightly curious.

“Okay, but why was I not able to help you earlier? I never noticed any kind of gift, abnormal powers or whatever. Is there a problem with me? Am I too weak?”

That was something Jisung tried really hard to avoid; It was too easy for Jisung to jump to every possible conclusion when he was thinking about what he could’ve done or why he wasn’t enough. However, Minho quickly noticed that Jisung started to get lost in negative thoughts.

“No no, it’s not that. Jisung, I suspect that your powers just haven’t developed yet. I don’t know the specifics either, but I think there’s something we can do to set your powers free,” Minho consoled the younger.

After hearing that, Jisung looked at Minho with big questioning eyes. Minho was about to tell him his idea right away, but something in Jisung's eyes had captured him. The wizard was enamored with the way the dim light made Jisung's eyes gleam. They seemed to be filled with endless warmth. It was only a few seconds that Minho was distracted though, because Jisung decided to voice his question.

“What is it? What do you want to try?”

“I think, we need to talk to your parents,” Minho answered with serious voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! We got a bit of background information on Jisung now and soon we might even meet his "parents" :D I'll hope you stick around for that, because it will take a while. I'm kinda sorry, but my new years resolution is to only write when I don't have lectures. That will be Feb, March and Summer and in between I'll only write when I am completely free, at least that's what I planned on doing. I just get way to invested and after writing and uploading I get this sense of productivity and then I don't think about being productive by studying anymore. So, in order to succeed in university and write in a healthy way and not as a coping mechanism or as distraction from stressful work I decided to having set "writing periods". Anyways I hope you just subscribe if you liked the fic up until now and then wait for me <3 I actually hope I'll follow through with this, because sometimes I just really feel the need to write something. I hope you guys stick to your new years resolutions as well whatever they may be!!


	4. IV - Cursed Nature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for sticking around. Enjoy!!

We need to talk to my parents?

Jisung was dumbfounded. Did Minho not listen to him? They were dead. His parents had died years ago, so how on earth would they talk to them? It’s not as if – oh, suddenly Jisung felt stupid. Minho was a wizard who was occasionally or more like constantly involved with demons. But his parents - Jisung lost his train of thought. Who even were his parents? Humans, demons, both or neither?

Jisung was startled out of his thoughts by the touch of a hand on his shoulder.

Minho had noticed that Jisung was looking at him in disbelief and quickly explained what he had in mind.

“I know someone that can find the demons that possessed your parents. I don’t know her very well though, but Changbin does. We would just need to pay her a visit and see if she is willing to help.”

Minho inwardly grimaced at his own idea, because, if he were to be completely honest, he knew that his plan was faulty. If they were to visit that certain someone, Minho would need to bargain with her to get the help, but truth be told, Minho and Jisung had nothing to offer. At least not to that person.

“And who is it? Where do we need to go?” Jisung asked without much excitement and belatedly added in a small voice,” I have class tomorrow, Minho.”

Minho only now noticed how tired the younger looked. All this must have taken a toll on him and Minho felt horribly ignorant about not being more considerate.

Minho gently squeezed the younger's shoulder as a gesture of reassurance and with a hint of hesitation slid his hand down his arm and took Jisung cold hand in his warm one.

“Let’s got back and talk about the whole thing with Changbin. I’ll make you some tea and we’ll take things slowly, alright?”

Jisung nodded, lifting one corner of his mouth trying to muster up a smile, and let Minho lead him out of the book shop back to the private rooms.

“Chamomile or fennel?”

Jisung jumped in his seat as a voice too close to his ear tore him out of his thoughts. All of them were in the summoning room again. Jisung had set on the couch, tucked in the corner and squished against the maroon cushion. Minho had gone straight to the kitchen to prepare the tea and was apparently already back with two options. It took Jisung a few seconds to realize this and he turned to take one cup off the tray that the wizard was holding. Jisung noticed that Minho seemed to be amused; he must have noticed how deep in thought the younger had been and found it funny to scare him a little bit. However, as always there was not an inkling of malevolence in Minho's facial expression. If any it might be… fondness? Well, Jisung didn’t know and he didn’t feel like figuring it out either. He was just too tired. Because of his exhaustion, he also didn’t care that he didn't even know if he took the fennel tea or the chamomile tea. The sudden proximity of the other made him too nervous to inquire which one it was. Minho apparently didn’t think it was odd to invade personal space like that to get someone’s attention or if he did, he didn’t mind.

After handing the other tea cups to Felix and - to Jisung's surprise - Changbin as well, Minho plopped himself down on the couch next to Jisung. Felix and Changbin hadn’t spoken to each other when Jisung entered the room. Felix had been scrolling through his phone and Changbin had been absentmindedly playing with little fire bolts dancing on his fingertips. They didn’t seem to get along well; Felix appeared to be irked by pretty much everything the demon was doing or saying, while everything the demon was directing at felix had the goal of teasing the other. Honestly, to Jisung it looked like the demon was just bad at flirting and Felix just didn’t keep up with anyone’s bullshit in general. So, Jisung didn’t worry about these two too much, they would figure it out sooner or later.

“So,” Minho dragged the _o_ out to get everyone’s attention, “ Changbin, I think we need to visit, uhm, an old friend of yours.”

Changbin looked at him skeptically,” A friend?” he narrowed his eyes,” I don’t have any friends and you know it.”

Somehow Felix, upon hearing this, felt sympathy for the demon welling up in him. Even though he himself found the demon was annoying of course, he couldn’t help himself but get a little bit sad at the thought of living without any friends.

Minho answered in a solemn tone,” Well, at least we met him once, when we finalized our deal. I know that you know who I mean. We need to visit Seulgi in order to speak with the demons that possessed Jisung parents and perform the spell. Only she can identify the two we are searching for.”

Realization flitted over Changbin's face,” Seulgi? Are you insane? That means you think he is a-“

“Yes, exactly,” Minho interjected to get to the point more quickly. Changbin probably used his magic and eaves dropped on their conversation anyways.

“Okay, but why would she help us with this? You got anything to offer, because I sure don’t? I think she is still a bit pissed that I left the underworld for the human realm to be honest.”

“Well, Changbin, sorry to ruin your day, but we still have to try. We are going tomorrow night,” Minho turned to look at Jisung,” Only if that’s okay for you, of course.”

Jisung looked back at Minho and noticed how hopeful the other looked.

“Uhm, I guess?” Jisung's answer sounded more like a question than an affirmation. That was because he did indeed still got a question,” Minho, you mentioned that I also need to perform a spell just now? What does that mean?”

“Oh, the spell is actually not a big deal. I’ll just prepare a few Sigills and you will have to recite a sort of prayer. You can learn the text tomorrow, it’s nothing more than a few verses.”

That sounded doable to Jisung and he nodded in understanding.

“So, should I drop by tomorrow after class?”

“Sure, I can pick you up from university, if you want?” Minho suggested.

Jisung was a bit perplexed by the offer, unwillingly his mind conjured images of Minho on a flying broom and more images of the other teleporting with some weird explosive powder like in this one movie he had watched.

It must have been visible on Jisung's face, because Minho clarified,” I have a car, you know.”

“Oh, uhm yeah. Thanks.”

“Wait a minute, I have classes until late tomorrow,” Felix remarked.

Minho focused his gaze on Felix and simply raised an eyebrow in question.

To add to Felix' irritation, Changbin piped up nonchalantly,” Well, hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but you aren’t needed for this.”

Felix glowered at the demon, getting even more riled up as he saw Changbin's cocky smile.

“Excuse me, it’s not about me being needed or not. I simply cannot let Jisung go without me, when he is going to visit the friend of a demon with said demon and a sketchy wizard. I don’t trust you.”

Changbin already opened his mouth to defend himself, not admitting to himself that Felix' distrust was bothering him. However, Jisung quickly intervened.

“Felix, it’s okay. We can just wait for you. You’re done with classes about three later. I’ll just wait here for you, we’ll prepare everything and leave all together when you are here in the evening.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Minho commented, sending Felix an amiable smile. He should really try to get on Felix' good side, it might just make or break his relationship with Jisung. Trust was essential to his plan.

“Fine”, Felix grumbled, shooting one last warning glare at Changbin before he got up, signaling Jisung that they should leave.

Jisung agreed silently and they bid their good-bye.

At home, Jisung filled Felix in on everything he had talked about with Minho when they were doing their research in the book shop.

Felix, Jisung voice of reason, was visibly concerned and not at all pleases with the situation.

“Does the whole thing not smell fishy to you? If you think about it, he is manipulating you, isn’t he? I mean, are you just supposed to just believe him and go through all this trouble? For what? Just so that afterwards you can sit in on a ritual once again and he will be able to summon another demon?” Felix was pacing about the room as he tried to analyze the mess, they had gotten themselves in,” Why is it even necessary to go to such great lengths? If it's true what he told you, then demons effectively ruined your life, Jisung! They killed your parents, didn’t they?”

“Not every demon is like that though? I mean, you’ve met Changbin, he seems pretty okay to me,” Jisung scowled. He felt the need to defend himself and Minho. Why? He didn’t know either.

“No, that’s not the point. Minho sympathizes with demons that kill innocent people –“

“Felix, enough! Calm down. Also, Minho doesn’t sympathize with them, he uses them for his magic.”

“Exactly! Do you even hear yourself? He uses demons for magic. That’s black magic that he is practicing! And what for? We don’t even know??”

Felix was raising his voice at Jisung. For a moment it scared Jisung, he wasn’t used to argue with his best friend like this. Though, at this point he was too fed up to care just how their argument would end. Jisung got up from where he was sitting on his bed and stood his ground.

“Okay, Felix listen! I admit that I don’t know much about Minho, but I don’t have a bad feeling about this. I will trust my intuition. I will get Minho to tell me soon enough what his original intentions really are. But you know, I’m also not just doing this because I got charmed by a handsome wizard or even just because I can’t say no when someone asks me for help. No. It’s not just about his weird magic circle anymore. Minho gave me an explanation for my parents’ death and what we are going to do is going to provide an opportunity for me to accept my past and move on. This is for me getting the reassurance that my parents would have actually wanted me, would have loved me, if they hadn’t been fucking possessed by those goddamn demons. If I can see them with my own two eyes, the two demons which made my parents suffer to death, and if I can then banish them to the deepest quarters of hell, then I might just be able to come to terms with my past.”

Felix was stunned by his best friend’s outburst. It took a lot in him to stop gaping at Jisung's determined expression, but after a few seconds he accepted defeat.

“Alright, Sungie. I’m just worried for you, okay? Just let me come with you and help you in case things get uncomfortable for you.”

Moved by his friends words, Jisung approached him and enveloped Felix in a hug.

“Of course. I wouldn’t want to go without you. You are my best friend. Thank you for worrying about me.”

Felix let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around the other as well.

“You couldn’t get rid of me anyways. We are brothers.”

***

As promised Minho had picked Jisung up from university. Right when Jisung had left campus and looked around the parking area, he had noticed Minho leaning on his car, waiting for him.

Minho drove a metallic red Toyota Prius. It was obvious that it wasn’t new anymore, but Jisung thought it still looked safe and in a way even inviting. As they both settled in the front seats and Minho started the car, the radio started playing automatically as response to the electricity being turned on along with the engine. 

Minho was settling in to the driver’s seat, noticing the radio playing. The melody of some old song his parents would listen to was currently floating through the space of his car. Jisung's reaction wasn’t too enthusiastic, so Minho handed him the aux-cable.

“Do you want to play some songs?”

Jisung's eyes lit up; he loved choosing the music for car rides and had multiple playlists just for driving. Even though he didn’t drive and also didn’t have a car, but he found himself in the passenger seat often enough.

“Yes, I would love to. Do you have any preferences?”

“Anything’s fine with me, but I don’t exactly like techno,” Minho chuckled slightly.

“Alright, that’s fine. I don’t like techno music either,” Jisung agreed while scrolling through his phone in search of the first song. His first pick ended up being a song by BTOB.

As Jisung started the song, Minho's head perked up in recognition.

“Oh, is that _Only one for me_?”

Jisung's face brightened at that; Minho seemed to like the song and even knew the name!

“Yes, it is! It’s one of my favorites,” Jisung answered with a big smile.

“It’s one of mine too. I usually listen to hip hop, but this song is just really good.”

The two started an animate discussion about music and discovered that their tastes were very similar. Having found out about their shared favorites that they could talk about, the time it took them to drive back to Minho's apartment passed by in a flash.

Minho unlocked the front door of the shop and guided Jisung inside. After switching on the lights and dropping the keys behind the counter, he turned around to Jisung.

“We can go sit over there,” Minho gestured to a big old table with a few chairs hidden in the far back of the book shop,” and talk about today’s plan. It probably won’t take that long, but we should still go through everything properly.”

Jisung hummed in agreement,” Okay.”

After a few minutes of Minho getting some books and loose papers, they sat opposite each other and with tension between them at the table.

“Okay, so first of all, the person we need to visit is in a way, uhm, the manager of hell? And demons? It’s difficult to explain exactly what she does, but she registers the activities of demons, people who go to hell and every other issue that comes with it.”

“So, she’s, well, Lucifer?” Jisung suggested only half-jokingly.

“Not exactly, but pretty close.”

Jisung's mouth fell open. They were going to visit the devil?

Quickly Minho continued to elaborate,” There isn’t really a devil as you might have imagined there to be. Seulgi, that’s her name, used to be an archangel, but she didn’t get banned or anything like in the legends. She was simply the most suitable for the position and she was ready to sacrifice her life in heaven and on earth to go to the underworld. Anyways, don’t worry, she isn’t evil or anything, but she probably also won’t be exceptionally nice to us. So, it’s best you only talk when she addresses you directly, okay?”

Jisung nodded. He had to admit to himself, he was glad that he probably wouldn’t need to talk to this not-actually-the-devil-lady.

“Hopefully we don’t have to talk to her for too long. However, you will need to talk to the demons that had possessed your parents, alright? Me talking to those demons won’t help our cause.”

“Uhm, Minho,” Jisung interjected,” actually, I don’t really know what I am supposed to talk about with them. Is there something specific we need to know?”

“Well technically, there isn’t. You just need to confirm for yourself, that you’re the way your parents behaved was mostly due to the influence of those demons. You need to realize that you are loved, that you yourself are full of love and that you can create love. I know it may sound a bit odd, but you will know when you get to it. And then in the end you need to read them a spell, but that's probably the easiest part. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Minho looked at Jisung with reassurance in his eyes and a tenderness that threw him off for a second. Jisung remembered his conversation with Felix and how his best friend said that Minho was suspicious and their plans dangerous. However, the way Minho looked at him and talked to him, made Jisung throw all of his (or Felix') worries out of the window. He was still curious though. He wanted to know more about the wizard and what he had gotten himself into.

“Minho, can I ask you a question?” Jisung tentatively started.

Minho felt a shiver run down his spine. If it was because of how carefully Jisung pronounced his name or because he was anticipating a difficult question, he did not know for sure. Minho did know however, that he wanted the other to trust him and feel safe with him. He also knew that that could only be achieved if he opened up to Jisung and tell him the truth. Nothing but the truth.

“Why are you so determined to go through all of this? Is it not a bit too much to go visit someone in the underworld and talk to two still unknown demons just to help me set free my powers or something, and then summon another demon that’s supposed to help you with – what exactly? I mean, why do you need to summon this demon? And why would you go to such lengths? I’m just a bit confused with the whole situation. I mean I know about, well, you told me about the thing with the spellbound and how I am apparently a child of love and stuff, but how? I mean I still can’t grasp how this is supposed to work. You seem perfectly fine to me, but you said I am supposed to make up for your deficits. I don’t even know how I would do that, _if_ I manage to set these powers free that I am supposed to have.”

Jisung had started to ramble, getting caught up in his thoughts and confused with the information that had overwhelmed him the past days. Minho had noticed that and managed to stop Jisung's little monologue by taking Jisung's hand, which had been resting on the table, in his and rubbing his thumbs over Jisung's knuckles in an attempt to calm him down.

“Jisung, calm down, okay? I know it’s a lot and to be honest, there are a few things that I don’t know myself. So, as I told you, it is likely that you are my spellbound, right? That’s nothing to be worried about, it doesn’t need to affect you. If you would just want to walk right out the door and forget about this piece of information, you could. However, I,” Minho adverted his gaze and you could see a faint red tint on his cheeks,” I need you? It’s difficult to explain and I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Jisung's could feel Minho's grip on his hand loosening. The wizard was about to pull his hand away, but Jisung switched the position of their hands so that he was the one holding Minho's hand and squeezed it so as to say _It’s okay, you can tell me._

“Well, you know, there’s a price you’ve got to pay, when you make a deal with a demon. I’m not saying, that Changbin is evil, he is actually a rather nice for a demon, if that makes any sense. However, I traded my soul with Changbin, so that he could live on earth and I get more power. The side effect of this deal is something that I thought I would be able to handle, in the beginning. You see, the power you get and the magic you can use is like a drug. It makes you greedy, even if you had once been the most selfless person. You lose focus on what is actually important and get caught up in a meaningless chase for more. To be honest, I don’t even have a bigger goal or a higher cause that made me trade my soul, I was just curious,” Minho let out a lifeless chuckle,” I guess the saying, curiosity killed the cat, proved to be true for my case. Anyways, the truth is, I am about to be consumed by this greed, whenever I attempt to use too much of the power that my demon can provide, I feel how I get one step closer to becoming a demon myself. I am scared, Jisung. I don’t want that to happen. Often times, I feel like I am losing it, myself and the grasp on what it means to be human.”

Jisung brought his other hand up to the tabletop and took both of Minho's hands in his,” You feel very human to me though. I didn’t notice anything greedy or demonic about you.”

Minho smiled sadly at Jisung's encouraging words.

“I think, I can still hide it very well. You also haven’t witnessed me practicing the kind of magic that I was talking about yet. But I can feel the transformation approaching, eventually Changbin's energy will destroy my soul completely without meaning to. And up until now the only solution I have isn’t even a solution. It is just a way to slow down the process. I need to summon a more powerful demon, that I can sell my heart to; that is going to give me once again more power. This power will give me some resistance, protecting my soul for a while longer. However, at the same time my heart will also burn to ashes as the another demon eats away at it.”

Jisung saw a small tear make its way down the wizard’s cheek. His situation seemed to be hopeless, one day he would need to – Jisung couldn’t even think about it. His heart was already heavy with the revelation, but seeing the despair in Minho's eyes, made him want to hold the wizard in his arms.

And so, Jisung got up from his chair, went around the table and crouched down to hug the older. At first Minho didn’t react, too surprised by Jisung's action, but after a few seconds he buried his face into Jisungs shoulder. Though not for long. Minho got himself together quite quickly and pulled away out of Jisung's arms. He got up to look at Jisungs at eye-level, who also stood up from his crouching position.

Jisung noticed a stray tear on the wizard’s cheek and lifted his hand to wipe it away. However, Minho caught his hand as it got close to his face. Once again, they were holding hands. Distracted Minho noticed, that their hands fit together very well. The other’s hands were only a bit smaller and very soft to the touch.

“I’m sorry, Jisung. I shouldn’t have told you that much, I really don’t want you to be worried about me. I brought this upon myself. But of course, I would be very thankful, if you would still be willing to help.”

Jisung was baffled by how quickly the other had regained his calm, but he was also a bit disappointed. Minho had opened up to him, and now it seemed like Minho had shut himself off once again. Jisung, though, wanted the other to confide in him and share his worries. He wanted to be close to the wizard.

“Minho, of course I will help you. Maybe you, we, will find a better solution along the way. Don’t give up," Jisung said truthfully. " Also, I wouldn’t ever leave you. I mean, you promised me unlimited access to your book shop, if I joined the magic circle, remember? I couldn’t just give up on that,” he joked with a sheepish smile to lift the mood.

His humor seemed to dissipate at least a little bit of the gloomy atmosphere and as Jisung inspected Minho's face for a reaction, he could’ve sworn he actually saw a small smile on Minho's lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading! I feel like there wasn't a lot of plot progression, but I had to write a bit more backstory, since i believe it would be very weird for jisung to follow minho to the underworld in the next chapter, if they hadn't established some kind of friendship before? If that makes sense? So, yeah, this chapter might have been a bit boring, but it's just prepares you for everything that's going to happen in the next chapter. I also think, this one diminished my writers block a bit :D Aaalso, the BTOB song that is mentioned, was actually the only shared song from jisungs and minhos spotify playlists. I looked that up a while ago and wanted to check again today, but they deleted the personal playlists of skz?? I'm a bit sad about that even though they hadn't updated their playlists for a while now. Anyways, leave kudos and comments, everything is highly appreciated. And, maybe tell me if Minhos confession/revelation was okay to read?? because in between I was thinking that maybe it's a bit out of nowhere and awkward that he somewhat randomly has a mental breakdown?? or was that okay?  
Okay, have a nice day, dear reader!


	5. V - Hatred is the father of love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Just fyi in case you read the last chapter a while ago, I changed characters. Originally I planned on introducing Chan and Woojin in this chapter and the following one. However, I changed up the plot as well and both probably won't be included in this story. So when I uploaded the last chapter I already mentioned that they would visit woojin, but I changed it to seulgi. Only the name changed, so you dont have to read chapter 4 again.   
Okay, enjoy!!

A ringing noise traveled through the air and demanded attention from Minho and Jisung who were busy going over the spells that they would have to use that night. Jisung recognized the ringing as the bell that was attached to the front door of the shop and signals the arrival of new customers. When he looked over to the shop entrance, he expected it to be Felix, who finished class early. But he didn’t see anyone. Only when he lowered his gaze did he see someone. It was Miinho's cat, familiar, who somehow had gotten through the door. Jisung figured that that was a normal occurrence, since Minho didn’t seem to mind. The wizard only lifted his head from his book shortly.

“Innie, you were gone for quite a while. I hope you didn’t cause any trouble,” Minho greeted with a raised eyebrow.

The cat just looked at him and then turned his head back to the door like that would answer everything.

It did.

The door swung open and two young men waltzed into the shop.

Jisung had never seen them before, but they looked very comfortable as they entered the shop. In contrast to Jisung, who remembered slowly opening the door, peeking into the mysterious business and then promptly getting scared by the bell ringing. Those two looked like they just came home. Both of the boys seemed to be much taller than Jisung, but not necessarily older. One of them had soft brown hair and features that were just as soft. His overall gentle aura stood in stark contrast to the boy behind him. His hair was pitch black and rather long, giving him a princely look. The eyes that were currently focused on his companion, looked sharp and fierce, but Jisung also noticed that his gaze when directed at the other boy was full of admiration. Nevertheless, Jisung already felt himself getting antsy, nervous in the presence of such beauty. A small voice in Jisung's head argued that there was no need to be nervous, because Minho was way prettier and just a hands reach away. Jisung blushed at that thought. It was true though, Jisung thought that the stranger’s sharp looks couldn’t rival Minho's feline gaze, delicately upturned lips, high cheek bones and most importantly the secure atmosphere that he exuded. Even though Jisung was intimidated by the wizard at first, he had grown comfortable around him and being in Minho's presence felt grounding to him, which he was grateful for especially considering all the new unsettling knowledge he was confronted with these days.

“Innie came to visit us,” one of them directed at Minho, as they made their way over to Jisung's and Minho's table.

“I could’ve guessed,” the wizard answered in a cool tone, rolling his eyes.

“Oh! Who’s this?” the soft looking boy asked as he noticed Jisung sitting opposite to Minho

Minho, who was still distracted by his work, answered curtly ,“A new member.”

At this, the other boy perked up. His eyes now narrowed with mischief, “Oh really?” He smirked at the two, like he just figured something out.

“Yes,” Minho gave him a pointed look. A look that told the other, that he didn’t figure out anything.

“Jisung. That is Hyunjin and next to him is Seungmin. They are both members of our magic ring,” the wizard introduced the two, gesturing between them.

“Nice to meet you,” the soft boy, Seungmin, greeted.

Hyunjin gave Jisung a friendly nod before looking back at Minho,” We just wanted to use the kitchen for a new potion that we wanted to try.”

“Sure, just make sure not to burn a hole into the ceiling again,” Minho shrugged.

“Again?” Jisung whispered to Minho, slightly shocked.

“Hey! I admit that we set things on fire quite often, but that is because it _needs_ to be set on fire. It was only one time that we set something on fire on accident. And it wasn’t even our fault! We did everything like the recipe called for, that merchant who sold us the spell book was just a scammer.”

Hy was visibly invested in defending them in front of min; they must have had this argument before.

“Well, then I assume you bought the recipe you want to try now from someone trustworthy?”

It was visible that Hyunjin and Seungmin had to think hard about how to answer that question so that they would still win the argument. They seemingly came out empty-handed, because Seungmin looked everywhere except at Minho and Hyunjin blushed a little and adverted his eyes as well.

Minho let out a long breath. He knew there was no point in arguing about this matter. It wasn’t like he wanted them to feel bad about it. Minho just had his own ways to express himself. He wanted his two friends to be careful with what they bought and to be cautious when they were mixing potions.

“Anyways, are you two planning on joining our meetings anytime soon? You moved in together a month ago already, I’m sure you’re not busy with unpacking boxes anymore… or whatever else distracts you from meeting your obligations,” he noted with a meaningful look and eyebrows raised dubiously.

For some reason Hyunjin blushed even more at Minho's words, even though they shouldn’t be all that embarrassing.

“Why? Are you planning something?” Seungmin inquired with curious eyes.

“You would know, if you hadn’t holed yourselves up in that new apartment of yours”, Minho answered a bit too harshly.

Jisung could tell, that Minho was hurt by them leaving for too long. Observing Minho's interaction with other people, revealed more about the wizard’s character and Jisung was intrigued. He had the suspicion that deep-down Minho was a little childish even though his exterior was always very tough and earnest. Jisung liked the idea of breaking down Minho's walls and to discover his suspicion to be true.

“Calm down, Minho. You could have just called us, if it was important. You know, actually, you could’ve called us even if it wasn’t important.”

Seungmin had a point. They hadn’t been in touch recently, but it wasn’t only Seungmin's and Hyunjin's fault. They didn’t call or text, but neither did Minho.

The wizard couldn’t argue with that; it was true and he had nothing to say to that. So, he just let out a huff and looked away from the two.

Hyunjin sighed as he observed the wizard’s behavior and with a sly smile said,” I know you being single is getting to you, but you don’t have to be so prickly to us because of it. Also, how I see it, you’re not exactly in the need of company,” Hyunjin smiled at Jisung for emphasis,” Plus we can’t help you with your rituals anyways. You know we are pretty much useless with anything other than potions and magic powders.”

“Okay okay, fine. Just do whatever, I guess.”

“Yeah, we will,” Seungmin grinned,” However, I would appreciate if you could introduce us properly to our new member,” he jerked his chin lightly in Jisung direction,” and even if we can’t help, I would like to know what kind of mischief you are planning.”

“Fine sit down”, Minho sighed and gestured at the unoccupied chairs bedsides them.

It only took a few minutes to fill Seungmin and Hyunjin in.

“Oooh, so you're really going to visit Seulgi tonight, huh? Then we’ll stay here for the night, in case anything happens,” Hyunjin offered.

Once again, the bell rang. All eyes were on the door as Felix opened it slowly and peaked his head through. Recognizing familiar faces, he stepped into the shop and made his way over to the table where he saw his best friend sitting.

“Oh, you got another one?” Hyunjin exclaimed with glee.

Surprised by the outburst of the stranger looking at him with interest, Felix froze and looked at Jisung and Minho for help.

“No, Hyunjin. I did not” Minho denied, slightly bewildered by Hyunjin's choice of words.

“Ooh but he looks like a fairy!” Hyunjin was clearly having fun with this situation and playfully tried to welcome the newcomer.

“Funny, Changbin said he looks like an angel,” Minho deadpanned. With these words the wizard had meant to provoke a reaction, but it wasn’t Hyunjin's nor Felix'. He knew Changbin was listening.

Seungmin looked at Felix with curious eyes. The freckled boy was blushing at Minho's words.

A smirk spread on Seungmin's face as he put two and two together.

“Oh, did he now? Interesting,” he snickered,” Where is he anyways?”

Felix was still confused by the two boys he had never seen before, but who were apparently very comfortable with Minho. And comfortable enough to mock a demon.

Speaking of the devil – not literally, because they would visit her today – Changbin suddenly appeared right behind Felix.

“I’m right here, Seungmin,” Changbin spoke through gritted teeth, but everyone could see that he wasn’t necessarily hostile towards the other. Rather, he seemed to be used to Seungmin's shenanigans and wasn’t having any of it.

At the sound of Changbin's deep voice too close to his ears, Felix jumped in surprise and let out a little shriek.

Even though Felix liked to put up a tough demeanor in front of the demon, the shock had made him incapable of keeping that up.

“You scared me, Changbin,” he whined, pouting at the demon.

Changbin's eyes widened at the younger’s expression and for a few seconds you could see his eyes soften. But he got a grip on himself quickly and the hint of apology in his gaze turned into defensiveness.

“Well Felix, don’t just stand around like this, maybe?” Changbin's ears reddened slightly. He knew this argument was shit and that it had gotten increasingly difficult for him to hide his fondness.

Felix stared at him; mouth opened slightly in disbelief.

“What? How is that a relevant argument?” Felix glowered at the demon, but turned back around facing the two strangers as one of them had started laughing loudly.

The one, who Felix had identified as Hyunjin, was currently wheezing and leaning his forehead on the other boy’s shoulder in order to get some support during his fit of laughter. Meanwhile the other boy, who Felix noted to be Seungmin, was undisturbed by Hyunjin clinging to him. He was currently looking at Changbin with a shit-eating grin.

Changbin glared back at him, before he just shrugged, turned around and went up the stairs, presumably to the living room.

As Hyunjin noticed that Changbin had left, he lifted his head off of Seungmin's shoulder and looked around.

“Oooh well, see you! I need to tease Binnie, was nice meeting you Felix, I like everyone who gets along with Bin,” with that and a wicked grin on his face, Hyunjin sped after the demon.

Him? And Changbin? Getting along? Felix thought that Hyunjin needed to work on his social skills if that was the conclusion he had come to.

“So, if he’s not a member why is he here? You aren’t planning on taking him with you to the underworld, right?” Seungmin asked.

“No, actually we do.” It was obvious that Minho wasn’t quite comfortable with his answer as well, but he had promised to Jisung that they would take Felix with them and he couldn’t let him down under any circumstances.

“Why? It’s dangerous for a human!”

“Ahem, excuse me, but I have to go with them. I can’t leave Jisung alone,” Felix defied his position with a stern look.

“I don’t think you understand how dangerous that can be?” Seungmin already felt protective of the boy, who looked very much new to the whole thing and his whole aura oozed with naivety. Despite Felix serious expression Seungmin still noticed the soft features and adorable freckles. Even though it would take a while for Changbin to admit it, but Seungmin knew it was just a matter of time until Changbin would complain to him about how annoyingly cute the boy was. Seungmin had known Changbin for quite a while already and even though the other was a demon, seungmin had unveiled Changbin's soft side quickly enough.

“Well, I don’t care! I have to stay with Sungie.”

Seungmin was still closely observing his new friend. He recognized something in Felix' determined gaze. Something he had only seen in a handful of people. There was genuine devotion and care in Felix' eyes as he insisted on staying with Jisung. Seungmin felt a hint of dread in his stomach, as his hopes for a love-struck Changbin were diminished.

“Oh”, Seungmin let out a small sound of surprise before asking,” are you?” He tried to finish the question by looking between Jisung and Felix in a meaningful way.

Minho perked up at this suggestion, unexpectedly so. Jisung looked at him. He was surprised as he met the wizard's wary gaze.

Having figured out the implication, Jisung looked back at Seungmin, “No, he is like a brother to me,” he paused for a breath, ”and I consider a brother to be more valuable than a lover, just so you know. In case you think that makes him less qualified to follow me to the underworld.”

“So do I, that’s why I cannot leave him alone, especially when it’s dangerous,” Felix confirmed.

Seungmin looked at Minho for his opinion, help or confirmation. He was still in doubt of this plan.

“Well, what can I do? To be honest, I don’t think Seulgi would go out of her way to harm a few guests for no reason anyways. We just want to ask her a favor after all. Also, we are taking Changbin with us, he is going to keep Felix safe while I’m going to protect Jisung in case things get messy.”

Only a little later Jisung found himself gaping at a wall. Or rather what should be a wall.

All of them had gone upstairs. Seungmin and Hyunjin were currently in the living room on the couch, absorbed into playing with Innie. Minho had previously announced that they would need to go his room. Jisung had been greatly confused by this statement. He had never thought about where Minho actually lived. Why did they go to the living room if they had to go to Minho's room? He was deep in thought as Minho just walked up to the wall that Jisung thought would border another apartment complex. Minho drew his attention to him as the wizard looked at the wall with a serious impression. He mumbled a few words before looking at the ground. Jisung noticed a symbol that had been carved into the hardwood floor. It was half of something that looked similar to the other sigills that he had seen on the floor or on the notes that were spread throughout the room. The diameter of the semicircle bordered on the wall and the symbol inside the bounds of it was cut off. Still, Jisung recognized that the carving included some stars and a lion’s head. Meanwhile, Minho had taken a step forward and stepped into the semicircle. Its edges were starting to glow in a fiery orange. Jisung had to blink twice and then another time, because in front of them the wall gave in and its material turned into dust, revealing another room and the other half of the sigill on the ground.

Minho entered the room and mentioned for them to follow him.

And so Jisung did, only vaguely registering Changbin and Felix following him, because the room he had entered demanded his complete attention. It was another opportunity to find out more about Minho and he was curious. This room was hidden and there had to be a reason. However, it looked relatively simple compared to the living room. There was a large bed crammed into the corner of the room, no windows and just one big pentagram carved into the floor, similar to all the small sigills and symbols on the living room floor.

The pentagram must have spread over about 9 square meters of the room, which Jisung estimated to be about 16 square meters in total. In the spaces, inside the circle and outside of the stars outlines, he could make out different carvings from the one's he had seen before. These seemed to tell a story. A story involving falling-stars that set people and trees on fire. Those fires were then trampled to nothingness by the large paws of a creature that looked like a hybrid of a lion and an eagle. Jisung came to the conclusion that he would need to stare at all those beautiful pictures for hours to make sure that he got every little detail. It was just too much to take in. The story which was supposed to be told, was still a mystery to him. He hoped that Minho would eventually explain them to him. Jisung's chest felt warm as he imagined the two of them to laze around on the couch, maybe him resting his head on Minho's thigh while the other would gently run his fingers through his hair and tell him all those stories about mystical creatures and far away lands, unknown to most of humanity. Jisung would love to just listen and –

“Jisung!” Minho called out to him, effectively snapping him out of his little reverie.

“Here are the two sigills that we have to use later,” he handed Jisung two rectangular papers about as big as the palm of his hand,” You remember the phrase I taught you earlier, right?

Jisung only nodded, blushing slightly. He couldn’t be sure, but he really hoped that the wizard couldn’t read minds.

“Also, I will teleport you. It’s not too difficult, but you have to wear my ring.”

Jisung's eyes widened and he felt his cheeks grow even warmer. He wanted to say something, but the words got stuck in the back of his throat as Minho slipped a ring off his finger, grabbed Jisung's hand and carefully placed the ring on his left index finger. Jisung felt like he might just implode on the spot. Only just now he had daydreamed about one of the most domestic scenes he could imagine and now he was experiencing something that under other circumstances would have been… just incomprehensible. Jisung questioned his sanity; maybe he was still daydreaming. Or Minho could actually read minds and was playing with his feelings. Feelings that he hadn’t even acknowledged until right that instance. He didn’t want to fall for Minho head first, but he had to admit to himself that he was indeed crushing on a mysterious wizard that he had met only a week or two ago.

“You need this ring to connect to me during teleportation. Don’t lose it. You can keep it afterwards. Just in case.”

Jisung stared down at their hands. The ring he now wore was made out of a silver band with a gem, that looked like an emerald, in its center. If it really was an emerald, Jisung couldn't tell, but in the end he figured it must have been something else. Emeralds were expensive, right? Minho wouldn’t just give him such an expensive ring. Or maybe he would. Minho didn’t seem like the type to care for luxuries. Anyways, this ring was a tool, Jisung reminded himself. He shouldn’t interpret this ring as a romantic gesture, even though he was allowed to keep it. Still, he couldn’t help himself but to get excited as he saw that Minho wore the exact same ring on his right hand.

Jisung whispered a thank you and looked up at Minho. But the bubbly feeling in his stomach wouldn’t cease, especially not after they locked eyes and Jisung froze, mesmerized by the wizard’s eyes. His sharp eyes looked softer than usual and there was a warm sparkle in them instead of the gleam he had observed before.

Someone cleared his throat to their right side and both, Jisung and Minho, turned their heads to the side in response.

Minho apparently remembered something and once again turned to Jisung, “Make sure you remember the spell for later. I have to prepare Changbin and Felix for the teleportation now.”

“Okay, Felix. We need to prepare something first so that we can take you with us. Both of us”, he gestured at Changbin,” can only teleport one person who isn’t involved with magic. Since I am taking on Jisung, Changbin is going to be responsible for you.”

Felix shot the demon a skeptical look, but nodded in agreement.

“You two have to make a pact though. Since he is a demon and his energies are usually limited to me, we need to perform a spell to bind some of his energy to you as well.”

Now Felix was visibly nervous,” What does this pact, uhm, what do we need to do?”

“Well, first of all you have to offer something of yourself to Changbin and if he accepts, which he will, I will recite a spell. After the spell Changbin is going to take your offering and, I’m sorry about that part, but he will have to give you a little burn mark. The mark is for reciprocation, if you will, and it also allows you to call him whenever. He will appear when you call him only if I don’t actively utilize his powers in that moment though. Anyways, shall we start? Are you okay with all of this?”

“Well, I’m thinking… what do I have to offer Changbin?”

“Hm let’s see. Obviously, nothing important like your soul or heart or anything. Usually, for these kind of spells a strand of hair or a finger, even though I wouldn’t recommend that because –“

“I want a freckle,” Changbin butted in. His eyes were fixated on the small dots scattered on Felix cheeks.

“One of my freckles?” Felix asked in disbelief, “Is that possible? Are you going to cut them out or something?” The poor boy was visibly scared at that thought.

“No, of course not,” the demon rolled his eyes slightly, “I can easily take one without even hurting you just a little bit. You won’t even notice it.”

“Don’t worry,” the demon added quietly. Once again, he felt a little disappointed that he gave the other the impression that he would just hurt him like that. Sure, he was a demon and that was what was expected of him, but with Felix - He just wanted Felix to trust him.

“Okay, Felix, do you accept? Then we can get started,” Minho urged. The wizard didn’t plan on spending too much time on this.

“Yes, I’m okay with this. Let’s go.”

“Alright, stand in front of each other,” Minho ordered.

The wizard stood next to them and put his hands on their shoulders so as to function as a sort of link. Then he started to recite the spell.

“_Pro amicum dico; angelis suis mandabit de te ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis in manibus portabant te_. _Permutatio!”_

As Minho spoke the last word, Changbin reached for Felix' face. At first the movement was quick but as his hand came closer to the others face it slowed down and then Changbin used only one finger to press against Felix' skin. The touch was soft, where just his fingertip came into contact with a small freckle on his cheek bone. Changbin then withdrew his finger and pressed it onto his own skin, his cheekbone. A smile spread on the demon’s face and his fingertip began to gleam. Changbin mustered Felix for a bit, seemingly contemplating something. Felix stared back at him, anticipating what would happen next. But as he looked at Changbin he noticed that, where the demon had put his finger, one of Felix' freckles had appeared on the demon’s face, which had previously been completely devoid of any blemishes. Meanwhile, Changbin's gaze wandered over Felix' skin and then lingered on the skin of his collarbone that was exposed by the low cut of his sweater. Quickly, so that Felix didn’t have time to flinch away, Changbin pressed his gleaming finger onto the boy’s collarbone. Felix hissed at the touch, a weird sensation stung his skin where the demon was touching him. He expected the touch to be scorching hot, but instead it reminded him of biting cold. After Changbin pulled his hand away, Felix noticed a darkening swirl on his skin. His skin was still smooth, but the mark blackened and he could see a symbol. The symbol depicted two snakes biting each other’s tail and thus creating a circle.

“Done,” the demon announced, looking oddly accomplishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!! Have a nice day and stay healthy! Also, comments are always appreciated. Especially with this chapter I wasn't sure if I portrayed their relationship well. You know, they are crushing on each other, but does it seem naturally? Do you think it's at least somewhat realistic like in terms of "crush progression" because I'm struggling a bit, but I hope to get in a bit more fluff as the plot thickens ahaha. Also, technically I'm using an all-knowing narrator who takes perspective all the time, but I was wondering if it's too confusing. For example, both jisung and felix had to figure out who seungjin were? and I felt like it might have been odd to read, because you basically met them twice? anyways, I try to pay attention to that in the next chapters.   
Also the latin means: "I speak for my friend; he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. Exchange!" The middle part is the fifth pentacle of the sun cited from The Key of Solomon :)


	6. VI - Destruction Is The Mother of Creation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello reader! It's lovely that you are still here!! Enjoy ~  
Um, I forgot if I mentioned it before, but at some point Seulgi was supposed to be Woojin, but I changed the last chapter in which I had previously mentioned him for a few reasons (disclaimer: I still love and support him very much, I just had my reasons)

“Alright, now it should work. Everyone, come here,” Minho announced, strutted towards the pentagram and positioned himself in the middle of it.

The other three followed suit. They were standing in the center of the pentagram, facing each other. Minho had taken Jisung's hand and guided him to stand next to him on one side. Changbin had done the same with Felix on the side opposite to them. Then, with his free hand, Minho took a small paper from his back pocket and held it up, so that everyone could see it. It was another sigil.

Minho started to recite a spell once again:

“Induit maledictionem sicut vestimentum et intravit sicut aqua in interiora eius et sicut oleum in ossibus eius.“

Right after he had spoken the last word, Changbin lifted his hand and promptly shot a small flame out of his claws, directed at the paper in Minho's hand. It caught fire quickly. Minho retracted his hand, so he wouldn’t burn himself. The note, however, remained in the air, in the same spot Minho had held it seconds ago. It levitated, still burning, sparks flying, and the only thing that was clearly visible were the gleaming lines of the sigil.

Jisung watched in awe, a funny feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He was both anxious and curious at the same time about the teleportation process. And as he caught a glimpse of his best friend's expression, he noticed that Felix felt the same way.

The nervous feeling that had started to spread through Jisung's body developed into something more unsettling. It was a sense of urgency that made Jisung want to move. He felt like he needed to get up, because it as if he was falling, though he was in fact still standing. The sensation was like the one you would get when you were falling asleep too fast. You’re lying in bed exhausted from the day that was about to end, suddenly panic would course through your body because you feels like your bed swallows you and you are dropping into the black abyss of sleep.

Then suddenly the fire devouring the paper suffocated and plunged the room into darkness. Jisung felt a stinging pain in his temples. His head hurt and he gripped Minho's hand even tighter. Vaguely he registered that Minho squeezed his hand in something akin to reassurance, but it didn’t do much to diminish his worries.

At some point Jisung wasn’t sure if he had closed his eyes or if he actually couldn’t see anything anymore. He didn’t think he had closed them, but he couldn’t even see the outlines of Felix' face anymore, like he would usually do when only the lights were turned off. His eyes were open, but he saw nothing. He saw nothing, he heard nothing, he smelled nothing, he tasted nothing. He only felt Minho's warm hand holding his.

How long all this lasted, Jisung couldn’t tell. But at some point, a light flickered in his peripheral vision and soon his eyes started to adjust to a new environment. More light illuminated the surroundings and Jisung could see his three friends standing with him in the same position, but in a different room. Behind Felix and Changbin was a wall made out of stone. Nothing remarkable.

“Visitors? Four at once. How lovely,” a woman’s voice resonated through the room. Jisung allocated her to be behind him and quickly turned around. So did Minho. All four of them were now facing the woman, whose voice did _not_ sound like the visit was actually a “lovely” occurrence.

In his movement Jisung let go of Minho's hand. However, as Jisung met the intimidating eyes of Seulgi, he quickly grabbed the wizard’s hand again. He really needed emotional support right now.

The woman in front of him sat on some kind of throne, placed behind a solid mahogany writing desk. The throne looked like an armchair, with plum velvet and a bronze frame that seemed like it was constantly burning; little sparks of fire were whirling around it and around the Seulgi, who was absolutely undisturbed. Said woman had ebony hair and a face with features that under other circumstances could have looked soft. Though her gaze felt invasive whenever she focused it on one of them, she still looked terribly bored by their presence. Her lips were of the color of blackberries and somehow Jisung doubted that she wore makeup. Yet another shade of black was wrapped around her body; a pitch-black robe was tied around her waist and if it weren’t for the blood red underdress it would have revealed quite a lot of skin. Her high position in the hierarchy of the underworld was enhanced by the jewelry she was wearing. She wore multiple golden rings which held rubies and emeralds on her fingers. Around her neck shimmered a long gold necklace that must have had a rather heavy pendant, but it disappeared in her décolletage and lay there hidden.

Behind Seulgi and her throne was something Jisung couldn’t quite recognize. Apart from the stone wall behind them, the other walls were basically book shelves. The books were stacked up to the ceiling, leaving no room for anything else, but right behind the throne was something of a dark color. It took a while until Jisung noticed that he couldn’t recognize what it was, because there was nothing to recognize. That part of the wall was just a waterfall of darkness. Like a veil, black smoke hid whatever was there or was to be found behind it.

After the two sides had scrutinized each other for a mere few seconds, which still felt like an eternity to Jisung, Minho spoke up, prompted by a raised eyebrow of the woman.

“Your highness, please let me ask of you a favor that I can only beg for.,” Minho started with feigned humility.

“Oh, for hell’s sake, drop the act, Minho. I know who you are and any kind of timidness just sounds like a farce out of your mouth,” she reprimanded him with a look that told them to cut to the chase.

“Fine,” Minho's face that had previously expressed humble inferiority became dead serious,” Seulgi, I need some information from you. We want to know where we can meet the two demons that used to possess Jisung's,” Minho looked at him briefly,” parents, so that we, I mean so that Jisung has a chance to make peace with his past.”

“I see,” and indeed to Jisung it seems like she did see. Everything. Of course, Minho didn’t tell her their whole plan and the reason they had come up with this plan in the first place, but somehow, they knew that they didn’t have to. Seulgi knew everything the moment they had set foot in her den anyways.

“Why can’t Changbin just ask around? Chat with his friends?” Seulgi's look was now directed at the demon with hostility, but it seemed like the hostility was just part of her humor.

Changbin gnarled,” you know that I have no friends down here.”

At that Seulgi let out a hollow laugh, “Yes, I do.” An odd sense of humor.

“Well, Minho, you said you would beg and usually I would have just sent you home at that. However, today there is something that I can ask of you. I need a traveling pendant that connects my realm with the human world on earth and I believe it’s not too complicated to make. At least for you. I’ll give you the information as soon as you deliver the pendant. Honestly, I could ask for much more seeing how valuable the information is. But I won’t, so you should accept.”

Minho was suspicious at how easy the deal was set, but he didn’t want to question it. He knew Seulgi liked to be direct and to handle affairs without much drama.

“I accept. I will deliver the pendant in a few days.”

“You’re back already? Not even a call for help? What a shame, I would have liked to meet Seulgi again,” Hyunjin commented upon their return, looking up only briefly from the book he was reading. Hyunjin was currently lying on the couch, his head cushioned on Seungmin's thigh. Seungmin was sitting at the end of the couch, one hand scrolling through his phone, the other hand playing with Hyunjin's hair.

“As if,” Changbin scoffed,” you hate it as much as I do in the underworld. And she hates us too.”

“Oh, come on, she doesn’t hate us. She’s just jealous that her little demons actually made it to earth permanently and are not like her, banned to the underworld for all eternity,” Hyunjin answered with a winning smile.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Huh, Hyunjin, you’re a demon too?” Jisung was surprised; Hyunjin's and Seungmin's relationship didn’t look like it was formed for magic purposes, like it was with Minho and Changbin. No, they looked like… boyfriends.

“Oh yeah, no one told you? I'm Seungmin's demon,” Hyunjin answered nonchalantly, while Seungmin didn’t even feel the need to react.

“No, no one told me. Hm, so Seungmin sold his soul too? Like Minho?” Jisung asked curiously.

“Um no, it’s a bit different with us,” Hyunjin laughed sheepishly. Seungmin's hand had stilled on his head and Jisung thought he could see the boy blushing.

“I’ll tell you another time, okay?” Hyunjin offered as an excuse.

“Okay.”

“To be honest, I thought it would be a bit more exciting,” Felix piped up and threw himself into the armchair.

Changbin huffed at this,” What did you expect? Did you want to be antagonized by the most powerful being in the underworld? I don’t think you could’ve handled that.”

“But, Changbinnie, wouldn’t you have protected me?” Felix giggled.

Changbin had a stunned look on his face; he didn’t know how to answer.

“Yes, I would have,” he answered quietly.

“Of course, he would have. He needs to. You guys made a deal after all. That wasn’t just about teleportation, but about protection as well,” Minho commented loud enough for them to hear from the other side of the room, otherwise focused on finding a particular paper on his desk.

Changbin didn’t comment on that. It was true that due to the deal he had to protect Felix. However, thinking about the worst-case scenario, it was clear to him that even without the deal he would have tried to protect the younger, no matter what.

Minho spoke up once again, still searching through the mess on his desk,” I was actually surprised as well. It was our luck that she needed something. If not, it would have taken a lot more to convince her. When the pendant is done, I’ll go alone to deliver it. You don’t have to come with me again. When I have the information, we can call upon those demons in my room.”

The others agreed to that by staying silent. Safe for Minho and Jisung, everyone had settled done in the seating area. Jisung didn’t know what to do with himself. After a small internal debate, he decided to join Minho's in his search.

“What are you looking for? I can help you search for it,” Jisung asked in a small voice.

Minho looked up from where he was scanning all those papers, trying to find the one that would help him make the pendant. His eyes softened as he saw Jisung looking at him with a hopeful smile. The candle that was burning on the desk, made little shadows dance on Jisung's face and reflected in his eyes. The lighting made the younger boy look ethereal and it took a moment for Minho to find an answer to Jisung's question.

“Um, yeah sure. I’m looking for a piece of paper with instructions for enchanting gold. If you look through this stack and I’ll check this one, we should find it quickly.”

Minho handed Jisung said stack of loose papers and busied himself once again. Jisung made it increasingly difficult to focus. It was a nice warm feeling that he caused, but still Minho felt himself having problems concentrating lately and that was throwing him off.

“Thank you,” Minho added,” Jisung,” adding the other’s name and pronouncing it with utmost care.

Jisung felt his heartbeat picking up speed.

“Oh, you’re back already. I thought it would take longer,” Seulgi said with an unimpressed face that stood in stark contrast to her words.

“Well, I’m in a hurry,” Minho answered simply and placed the pendant on the desk between them.

“I can see that, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stay for at least a little bit.”

The wizard narrowed his eyes, questioning her intentions. There was nothing else to the deal, so what did she mean?

“Thank you for the pendant. I have the sigils of the two demons here. I’ll give them –“

Seulgi was interrupted by a woman walking through the mysterious dark portal in the wall. She looked like it was her home and judging by Seulgi's reaction, it was. The woman only looked at Minho briefly.

“I just wanted to tell you that we had two new arrivals in ring 6 and also, dinner’s ready,” she said, looking at Seulgi fondly.

Seulgi mirrored her gaze and nodded,” Alright, Rene. I’ll be done in a few minutes. Your pendant is here. Look, you can put it on right away, I’ll tell you how to use it later.”

Seulgi took the necklace, unclasped it and carefully approached the woman to put the accessory on for her. Gingerly she reached around her neck and made sure not to accidentally catch some of her hair in the clasp. She then leaned back a bit to admire the woman in front of her. Minho had done a good job with the pendant; it was made out of pure gold and the intricate pattern in the metal of the pendant would do the magic.

“Thank you,” the woman seemed overjoyed at the gift and if Minho saw correctly, her eyes were brimming with happy tears.

“Now, go. I’ll be right there with you in a minute,” Seulgi advised her to go, but not before she placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

With a nearly unnoticed nod in Minho's direction she disappeared through the same black fog that she had arrived earlier.

Seulgi was just slightly but uncharacteristically confused by the interruption. Minho had just witnessed a rather intimate moment that could possibly threaten her image of the untouchable regent. It wasn’t good for other people to know the potential weakness of a person of her rank. Then again, Seulgi's power and influence was uncontested and she had to fear no one. Apparently, she remembered that as well, because the gaze that had had softened earlier turned serious and calculating again.

“If you want to ask why the pendant was needed, it’s a long story and none of your business. So, Minho, what I wanted to talk to you about… That boy, the one you brought with you, it’s clear and I think you’ve noticed that too, he is your spellbound. However, I think you’re on the wrong path. Right now, I see that you are planning to set his powers free in order to help you gain yet another demon’s power and ultimately you will probably keep that boy around. But you will keep him with a wicked and rotten heart, because greed will be what controls you. Usually I don’t care for wizards that are blinded by power, but I think the boy deserves better and I know there is hope. There is a battle raging inside you. Jisung is igniting love within you, but the demon is burning your soul and there can only be one flame keeping you alive. I’m telling you to trust Jisung with your live, because otherwise you will be nothing but dust very soon.”

Minho was holding his breath, a shudder running over his back. The words of this woman were very unsettling. He knew exactly what she meant and more, because even the words left unsaid, he had heard.

When Minho returned, his first instinct was to go downstairs to the bookshop, because something told him, he would find Jisung there. And that something was right. He found Jisung sitting at one of the reading tables in between his high bookshelves, immersed in an old book.

The wizard sat down beside him. As Jisung noticed the other’s presence, he looked up from his book and gave Minho a welcoming smile.

“Oh, you came back quickly! Everything went well?”

“Um yeah, I got the …uh… sigils and we can just start the rituals whenever you want. I mean of course not today, it’s already late but, um, just tell me whenever you’re ready.” Minho felt antsy and unfocused. What Seulgi had said to him was still on his mind, like a ghost haunting him. He wanted to talk to Jisung. He wanted to confide in him and tell him every single detail, because looking at the younger stirred unexpected hope in him. But he just didn’t know how to tell him.

“Okay, I’ll-“

“Jisung!” Minho blurted out. He still didn’t know how to communicate his feelings exactly, but he knew that he had to.

“Oh sorry, um, continue. Please. I’m sorry for interrupting you,” Minho apologized, lowering his head in embarrassment.

“No, it’s fine. What did you want to say? Why are you so nervous? It’s a bit out of character for you, not gonna lie,” Jisung laughed. The concern was evident in his voice and Minho mentally face-palmed for behaving like this. Jisung was right, it was out of character for him to be so awkward and jittery.

“No, it’s just that, I wanted to tell you … well … Oh, god dammit!” Minho leaned back in his chair at once and sunk down in it dramatically, hiding his face in both of his palms. He had never felt so helpless. Mentally he was scolding himself already, telling himself to toughen up and to get it together. But he had been running forever and without noticing he had reached a dead end. Or maybe he had noticed the dead end, but until today he wouldn’t admit to himself that he had taken one or two wrong turns along his way.

“Hey, you can tell me. What is it?” Jisung asked gently and leaned into Minho's space in an attempt to find out what was wrong with the wizard.

Jisung tried to be patient, but there was no reaction. It might have only been a minute, but to Jisung it felt too long to not react. So, he ever so gently put his hands on Minho's and pried the other's hands away from his eyes. Jisung was surprised when he found Minho looking straight back at him. Minho's eyes were filled with such admiration that it looked like it was hurting him. Like he was suffering from a kind of lovesickness that just wasn’t all that bad but still enough to trigger a flight response.

With a surge of confidence Minho freed one of his hands from Jisung and gently cupped the younger's cheek.

“Jisung, I think I can…,” Minho started intensely but he hadn’t thought this through as he got lost in the other’s eyes quickly.

Without noticing, Jisung had completely bewitched the wizard and his spell seemed to draw him closer. Minho's magic was useless when it came to Jisung, but it wasn’t needed anyways. Jisung was more than ready to comply as Minho's hand on his cheek guided them towards each other.

They were so close that Minho could feel Jisung's warm breath on the corner of his lips. But they were never touching, even though their arms had found their way around each other, enclosing them in their own universe. Both of them were dying to close the gap between them, still, not only Minho but also Jisung had their reasons to hesitate. Minho's inner conflict of adoration for Jisung and the belief that he wasn’t allowed to get close; not allowed to, because it would complicate their relationship and because he was convinced it would hurt the younger at last. Jisung held back, because he had noticed how Minho was silently struggling with himself; he was waiting for Minho because he knew anything else would scare him away.

Then, more as a result of being asynchronous than intention, Jisung briefly brushed his lips against Minho's cupids bow, and Minho couldn’t hold on to himself anymore. He chased Jisung's lips right as he was about to lean back into safety. They met once again. Jisung felt electrified and the sparks were igniting fireworks behind his eyelids. Minho reveled in the momentary relief of his desire, the yearning in his heart lessening for as long as they were connected by their lips. It was a brief kiss, though with much fervor. But also with a sense of finality, because even though they stayed just as close as they had been before. Jisung knew that Minho's boldness was the consequence of failed self-restraint. If they hadn’t touched on accident, Minho would have eventually retreated into false safety, denying his feelings reign. They both knew that and they also knew that there was nothing else to do, for now. So, they remained in their positions, holding each other, convinced that time would be able to confess their feelings for each other.

As the overwhelming sensations of Jisung's lips kissed him goodbye, unpleasant thoughts invaded Minho's head once again. Trying to hide from them, the wizard buried his face in the other's shoulder. And hoping that only Jisung's collarbone would hear, he whispered,” Jisung, I think I can trust you with my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> weeell, I really hope this didn't turn out too sappy? It's hard for me to tell exactly how other people would perceive my writing because english is my second language and even though I studied English for a long time already I just can not be a 100% sure. When I was writing this I was wondering if this is just all a bit too much, so let me know if you enjoyed or if you rather had me calm down?? Idk I'm just always a bit clueless when I write kissing scenes lol Also, it's so nice to write women for a change?? but I'm following my outline and it won't introduce many new character so that this story can come to a end eventually  
Also, as for the Latin "Induit maledictionem sicut vestimentum et intravit sicut aqua in interiora eius et sicut oleum in ossibus eius" means "as he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones." and it's used (hypothetically) with the fourth pentacle of Saturn going by The Key of Solomon in order to invoke spirits which bring news. I keep translating stuff, but are you guys even interested idk I'll keep doing it, but idk do you care?? maybe I should incorporate translations directly into the story?   
Anyways, I hope you're still enjoying the story and hopefully keep an eye open for the next chapter! Stay healthy!!


	7. VII - Breathe Like You Are a Transcendent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, better late than never, am I right? ahah   
Anyways, thanks for sticking around!   
Not sure if the tags and warnings are clear enough, so tw mild body horror and tw blood!!

In the end they had decided to do the summoning the next morning and that Jisung would be staying over, since he didn’t have class the next day anyway. Before, he convinced Felix that he would be fine on his own and that he would text him to keep him updated. Felix was reluctant at first but eventually agreed on going home, because he had to do some work for university and this whole ordeal had been keeping him from being productive for quite some time now. It was already dark outside. So Felix made use of his deal with Changbin and had the demon walk him home. There was nothing else for Changbin to do anyways, or so he told the younger. Secretly though, the demon was rather happy about getting to spend more time with the freckled boy. And that’s how Jisung found himself curled up in blankets on the couch with Innie settled on his stomach, purring as Jisung ran his hand through the cat's fur. Hyunjin and Seungmin were also staying over and currently cuddling in an arrangement of blankets and pillows on the floor. Minho had left for his bedroom a few minutes ago, wishing them a good night. Though upon seeing the unease in Jisung's features he had told them that he would leave his door sigil activated, so that they could reach him in case – just in case. 

Jisung was staring at the ceiling or rather just into the darkness. They had left one candle burning, but it sat on a desk and its dim light was only enough to illuminate a small part of the room. However, it was enough for Jisung to make out most of the room's outlines, the two doors and his two friends lying on the ground, also not yet asleep. Jisung couldn’t sleep; he felt exhausted but not sleepy. Not one bit. Various pressing thoughts were occupying his mind. Mostly his thoughts surrounded Minho. He tried to recollect everything he had found out about the other so far.

Minho had sold his soul to Changbin and was slowly drained of his humanity by him. In order to hold onto the power, that he had gained from his deal, he was willing to strike another deal with a second demon. He would sell his heart. Jisung felt a sting in his own heart at that thought, he didn’t want the other to give away his heart to a demon. A funny feeling spread through his body as he noticed that _he_ wanted Minho's heart. He wanted to hold it in his palm, protect it from all the darkness in the universe and help Minho gain back all he had lost due to the black magic that he had been practicing.

While Jisung was still willing to help Minho with his current plans by setting free his own powers, he was convinced that there must be another solution. Jisung was determined to find it. He just hoped that he would find it quickly enough, so that Minho wouldn’t need to lose his heart to a demon first.

So, Hyunjin, about earlier. Well, can you tell me how Seungmin and your deal works?” Jisung inquired cautiously while peering down at Hyunjin and Seungmin from his elevated position on the couch. Seungmin seemed to be asleep, but Hyunjin turned his head and looked at Jisung.

“What do you mean?” Hyunjin asked confused before his mind caught up,” Oh that, uhm, okay. So, you know Changbin is bound to Minho because they made a deal which included Minho selling his soul, right?”

Jisung nodded.

“With Seungmin and me it’s a bit different. There are two kinds of arrangements for a demon and a human. The most common is a deal like Changbin's and Minho's. Seungmin and I, we agreed on the more unusual. A deal on equal terms. I got his soul, but in return I gave him my heart.” 

The faint lighting made it difficult, but Jisung could have sworn he saw Hyunjin blushing after he had uttered those words.

Hyunjin cleared his throat lightly, adding to the awkward atmosphere that just settled, and continued,” This kind of trade ensures that the human isn’t drained while using the powers of their demon. Another difference to the conventional trade is that the bond is stronger, kind of special. It doesn’t mean that the bond is necessarily romantic or something, even though it can be. However, if I were to take back my heart and leave his soul, we would both die.”

Jisung pondered a little about the new information. One detail caught his attention.

“So, you mentioned, with this kind of bond it would kill you both, if you would break it. Does that mean you can break the other deal without such tragic consequences?”

Hyunjin took a deep breath “Don’t get your hopes up, Sungie. You can break that kind of deal too, but still the human would most likely die. I know you’re thinking of Minho and Changbin here, but the thing is, it’s just not that easy. First of all, Changbin would need another human to replace Minho. The deal wouldn’t matter, the only thing that’s important is that Changbin stays linked to the human realm. If he were to go back to the underworld he would most likely die. And then Minho would be left with a soul that has been eaten away at. A soul that would not be able to support his heart anymore. You see, the void that would be left by the demon powers needs to be filled again, but that’s incredibly difficult and needs a kind of energy that usually only demons can provide. So, even if we would find someone to take over Changbin, Minho's fate is sealed.”

Next to Hyunjin, Seungmin stirred, “Hyunjin, don’t say stuff like that. It’s true that Minho's future doesn’t look too bright, but I’m sure he’ll find a way to make it bearable for all of us.”

Hyunjin let out a frustrated huff,” Sure, like his brilliant plan to find yet another demon to destroy him.”

Jisung noticed how Hyunjin's voice was laced with sarcasm and something akin to anger.

He really shouldn’t get his hopes up. He didn’t want to accept it, but it did seem like Minho's fate was sealed. However, that didn’t mean Jisung had given up. Not yet.

“Thanks for telling me, Hyunjin.” Jisung whispered.

“No problem.”

At some point Jisung fell into a restless sleep.

_Jisung woke up still on the couch, but with his head resting on something that felt firmer than the pillow that he fell asleep on. As he noticed the fingers running through his hair and smelled a familiar scent, he began to grasp the situation. Minho had joined him on the couch. He was sitting with Jisung's head resting on his thigh. Adjusting his position a little bit, Jisung noticed that Seungmin and Hyunjin weren’t on the floor next to him anymore; they had left. He looked up at Minho, whose hand had stilled on his head and wandered down to gently stroked his cheeks. _

_“You snore a little bit when you sleep,” Minho commented with a fond gaze instead of wishing him a good morning._

_Jisung blushed a little bit,” Really? I didn’t know. I –“ Jisung was about to ramble, embarrassed by the other_ _‘s observation, but Minho was quick to interrupt,” It’s cute. Don’t worry.” _

_The younger stared at him in awe as he noticed the adoration in Minho's eyes. Jisung felt warmth spreading through his body and he sat up in order to look back at Minho properly. _

_Jisung felt a kind of urgency to get closer, his heart overflowing with fondness so that he thought it might just burst out of his chest. They had kissed before, not properly but they had kissed nonetheless. Still it surprised Jisung how easily their lips met that morning. It seemed so natural, like they had been living together for years and had established a morning routine. Eyes closed, Jisung cupped both of Minho's cheeks in his hands, thumbs stroking his soft skin, while their mouths exchanged greetings. The overwhelming feeling that Jisung experienced a few moments ago was replaced with tranquility and ease._

_Suddenly Jisung noticed a kind of wetness underneath his fingers on Minho's skin. Was Minho crying? He wondered and tried to comfort the other by wiping his tears and moving his lips with even more care. But the crying didn’t seem to stop. Jisung drew back and looked at Minho with concern. He was alarmed when he saw that his concern was more than warranted._

_Minho was crying. But he wasn’t crying any tears, but a black liquid. It appeared to be somewhat thicker than water. More like blood. And Jisung, in his efforts to wipe away the tears, had smeared them all over his face, leaving gruesome traces all over. _

_Jisung didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even know how to react. And even if he did, looking at Minho, he was paralyzed. All he could do was watch him as he had to witness the horror._

_Minho's eyes were staring back at him with fear, still brimming with the black liquid. His features contorted with pain as he let out a petrifying scream and his hands flew up to his head clutching the crown of his head. Blood was gushing down his head from under his hands and he had to remove them as two dark horns pushed them out of their way to take their place in between his now blood-soaked hair. Minho choked on his sobs and his throat closed as he could only whimper in agony. As soon as the horns had settled another transformation began. Minho threw his head back and opened his mouth as if he wanted to scream again. But he was silent. In this position Jisung could see Minho's teeth and the black liquid, once again. It seeped from his gums and ran down the corners of his mouth. After a few seconds the first tooth fell. It fell back into his mouth so that Minho had to swallow it. His other teeth followed in quick succession. Once they all disappeared into the back of his throat, Minho convulsed violently, a strong shudder moved his body and he keeled over. There was little space between Jisung and Minho, but whatever had possessed the older made him throw up right in front of Jisung into that small space. The mixture that forced itself out of Minho's throat so violently consisted of the black liquid, actual blood, and his teeth._

_Jisung felt like puking himself, but he couldn’t pay any attention to his own reaction, because Minho's suffering wasn’t over yet. After Minho had emptied his stomach, he looked back up to meet Jisung's eyes and Jisung could see the insanity in the wizards look. Minho grinned and it was the most disturbing expression Jisung had ever witnessed. Minho grinned with a new set of sharp and elongated teeth and a dangerous glimmer in his blackened eyes. His skin began to flake, and underneath the pieces of skin, human skin, a new skin in different shades of black and burgundy appeared. Finally, as most of his skin had transformed, Jisung felt a strange heat and noticed that Minho's new skin was scorching hot. In fact, it was burning. Flames started licking around Minho's features, soon engulfed his face and traveled down his body. Jisung had to witness how Minho went up in flames and screeched in what must have been excruciating pain and absolute madness. _

Jisung woke up with a start. He was breathing heavily and felt his heartbeat reverberate through his whole body. Another wave of panic took hold of him when he noticed that he was crying. Quickly he wiped at his cheeks and examined his hand in the dim light. Thank god the liquid was clear. He was crying tears and not whatever he was dreaming of that Minho had cried. Minho.

At once Jisung got up from the couch, careful not to wake Hyunjin and Seungmin, and made his way to the bewitched entrance of the wizard’s bedroom. He just had to check on him, to make sure Minho did not actually turn into whatever creature appeared in his dream. Well, to call it a creature was a bit of a euphemism. Jisung knew, that Minho had turned into demon in his dream. A demon that looked truly evil.

In a matter of seconds Jisung was standing in front of Minho's bed. The wizard was sleeping peacefully. Not a demon. Just Minho, soft breaths and hair artistically tousled by his pillow. He looked peaceful and Jisung wished he could be forever. However, Jisung was aware that their situation would not allow that. He reached for Minho's hair, gently carding through it and lightly patting it into place. Minho seemed to have a light sleep and started to stir, waking up because of Jisung's touches. Jisung felt a little guilty, but also glad, because after his nightmare he didn’t want to be alone. He wanted Minho's reassurance.

“Jisung?” Minho murmured sleepily.

Jisung only hummed in response; he didn’t want to overwhelm the wizard who was still half asleep.

“What are you doing here?” he now asked, already more awake than a few seconds ago.

“I had a nightmare and I don’t think I can fall asleep again. At least not on the couch, alone.”

Originally, Jisung just wanted to check on the older. But now that he was crouching beside Minho's bed, the thought of going back to sleep in the living room was just dreadful to him.

“Was it that bad? Come here then,” Minho asked and not even waiting for an answer rolled over and lifted one side of his blanket, inviting Jisung into his bed. Minho, who usually treated Jisung with thinly veiled concern and a bit of restraint, seemed to be more forthcoming and compliant to Jisung's unspoken wishes.

Jisung was quick to join Minho under the blanket and fit right into the other’s arms. Minho must’ve felt perfectly comfortable cuddling with Jisung, because his eyes were already closed and his breaths even, indicating that he was close to falling asleep once more.

“Minho, you were in it. You were in my dream,” Jisung whispered. When if not now would he be able to talk to Minho about his concerns? Minho couldn’t fall back asleep right now, Jisung needed to seize this opportunity. Tomorrow they would be busy with the summoning and they wouldn’t find a quiet spot, undisturbed by their friends. And even though Minho's presence was already comforting, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep if they didn’t talk about it.

Minho opened his eyes again. Though previously soft with sleep, his eyes were now alert and questioning. 

„You said it was a nightmare,” Minho started in a low voice, wanting Jisung to elaborate.

“Yeah it was,” Jisung inhaled shakily,” I’m worried. About you.”

“What happened? In the dream, I mean.”

“You turned into a demon.”

Minho didn’t answer to that. He didn’t even move. However, his silence wasn’t meaningless.

“Minho, is there really nothing we can do? There has to be a way for you to stay safe. If I’m really your spellbound – that’s what you called it, right? – If I really am, then there must be something I can do for you. Just something; anything to prevent you from hurting even more.”

Jisung was pleading in a hushed but urgent tone, the images of his dream flashing in his mind. Minho, however, was still not able to answer. He was overwhelmed by Jisung's concern and just wanted the younger to calm down, to feel safe just by being with him. There was nothing he could _say_ to do that though. Minho didn’t know how to go about his dilemma and in the middle of the night he wasn’t able to think of a plan that would satisfy Jisung. Besides, he was scared as well even though he didn’t express it like Jisung did. Minho needed some comfort too.

Minho felt like the only thing he could do to calm Jisung down was to hold him tight. So, instead of trying to answer Jisung's pleas, the wizard simply pulled him closer and rested his chin on the younger's head in order to convey a sense of security.

“Jisung, you don’t have to worry too much. Now that you are here, I’m already hurting less.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm curious, how did you guys like the nightmare? I don't have to too much experience with writing creepy stuff, so I'm interested in your opinion (as always)!   
In the next chapter we're going to meet Jisung's "parents" and then comes the big finale. Do you have any ideas or theories how they can save Minho? Pretty much all of the background information has been disclosed, so maybe you thought of something already? Tell me in the comments and we'll see very soon if you were correct :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Updates will take some time, but hopefully it will be worth it :D   
If I messed up or you have some writing advice, please tell me, because english is my second language and I don't really know anything lmao. Thank you!


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